Florida Adopts Compromise Science Standards
The Florida Board of Education voted 4-3 today to add the words “scientific theory of” before the word evolution in the standards. It was my understanding that the phrase would be added also before every scientific theory in the standards if this was done, but I don’t yet know if that is the case.
The fact that this is regarded as a compromise illustrates how little some know about the use of the word “theory” in a scientific context. The meaning should not be changed at all, but obviously some people think that evolution is weakened in this way, and presumably hope to introduce religious alternatives. But evolution is a theory, and “theory” in a scientific context refers to an explanation of a variety of observations, not to a “weak” fact.
We will have to keep watch on Florida’s educational community to see that teaching is not weakened due to some perceived meaning in the word “theory.”
But it is at least honest. If I were in the US, I would – as you suggest – watch closely to see how this is implemented; I’ve often wondered why educationalists seem to think the scientific method is too complicated for children, and therefore tend to teach as if everything were facts. I’m closer to being a mathematician, and get uneasy when children are told “two into one won’t go”, only to have fractions introduced the next year. There are lots of similar examples in our chemistry & physics syllabus, let alone biology.