Adrian was a participant in the Understanding Science project. When I spoke to him during the his first year of his A level course he told me he had been studying quantum theory, and I asked him about the name 'quantum theory'. He suggested that a theory is an idea that can be proven, but struggled to suggest any other scientific theories. I suggested the thoery of evolution:
What about the theory of evolution? Would you count that as a theory?
Yes, but I am not familiar with it. Was it e=mc²?
That’s relativity.
Relativity.
I was thinking evolution?
I don’t know that one.
Not sure about evolution at all?
No.
Of course there is more than one theory of evolution, but natural selection was a compulsory topic in the school curriculum, and widely referred to as 'the theory of evolution'. Adrian, however, seemed to have no recollection of hearing about evolution. It is inconceivable that he had not met the term in school or elsewhere, but it was not something he was bringing to mind in response to my questioning.
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Dr Keith S Taber kst24@cam.ac.uk
University of Cambridge Faculty of Education
© Keith S Taber, 2013