Using Controversy To Develop Intellectual Sophistication:
Lessons From Evolutionary Biology
Most students come to college holding numerous exclusive points of view and expect to learn hard and fast truths in our classrooms. Many therefore struggle with the uncertainties of disciplinary controversy and often end up concluding that all opinions and theories have equal merit. This attitude has unfortunately contributed to significant obstacles for the teaching of controversial topics like evolutionary biology in the United States. In this workshop, I will demonstrate methods I use to help students in my evolution course critically evaluate theories about the history of life on our planet. These methods can be applied to controversies in many academic disciplines. A goal of this workshop is to help participants identify controversial topics in their own courses that can be used to facilitate the development of student reasoning skills.
