Project 0, from Maricris

During my College days, Evolution was one of the subjects that were not clearly explained to us, to me. My Professor was not available and so, knowledge about the subject was not properly imparted to us.

Our professor seldom meets us for the reason that I forgot to recall why. It seems that we are taking distance education where in fact we are just starting to know the topics and we need to be guided.

During midterm examination and final examination, I can still remember that our professor was just giving us the topics and the references for us to read. No discussion took place, that’s why concepts were not properly understood. We tend to copy the important words and its definition from the book and end up memorizing it without comprehension just for us to have answer to the test given.

I grasped knowledge but is not enough to make me confident. In handling my classes, I end up using the traditional way of teaching (lecture method) whenever Evolution is the topic.

Considering Evolution on its lighter side, we tend to ask questions that are not clear to us. Where did human come from? What was the first form of life? These were few questions that come into our mind when we became aware of our existence. When we try to think about it, we can’t help but compare ourselves to the other forms of life. Humans really look the same as the chimpanzees. And very different from the fishes, but through careful observation, we have cope up with the idea that we both share the characteristics of all living things.

According to Charles Darwin, the proponent of the Theory of Evolution , organism changed from simple to complex forms, and thet humans evolved from an ancestor of the apes. But he received lots of opposition, especially from the Catholic Church.

There are many explanations and theories regarding the origin of our existence. But perhaps only Darwin’s theory gave a logical explanation that’s why it was widely accepted by the scientific community.

Inside the classroom, the hardest question that I encountered was; “If the Theory of Evolution is true and Organism changed to a better form and that humans evolved from monkeys, then why do monkey’s still exists?”

I admit that the question was difficult, add to it the bias that we have because our faith dictates that we must believe that human was created by God. While Science dictates that we must not believe any statement that is not supported by experiments or evidences. Science dictates that we should believed only statements that were the results of scientific study.

As the scientists and at the same time a devoted Christian we teachers are caught in the middle of two opposing beliefs. How can we teach evolution when deep in our hearts we believed it is not true.

Upon taking BIO E, I am looking forward to

• Understand concepts about origin of life
  
• Answer questions regarding evolution
  
• Teach evolution in the classroom confidently