building critical thinkers
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Building Critical Thinkers. What Is Evolution?. Mike Riddle. www.CreationTraining.org. Topics. Critical thinking questions Critical thinking and evolution Words have meaning (fuzzy words and magic words) Analyzing the evidence: asking questions. Three Critical Thinking Questions. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Building Critical Thinkers
Mike Riddle
What Is Evolution?
www.CreationTraining.org
Topics Critical thinking questions Critical thinking and evolution Words have meaning (fuzzy words and
magic words) Analyzing the evidence: asking questions
Three Critical Thinking Questions
How do you know it is true?
Has it ever been observed?
Are you making any assumptions?
One More Question - Fossils
How much of the fossil was actually found and how much
was added (assumed)?
“For instance, modern whales are the descendants of four-legged land animals…”
Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1998, p. 177.
DeceptionPakicetus: a candidate for
whale evolution?
Artist reconstruction
Only the shaded portions of the skull were found
The Real Pakicetus
A wolf-like land mammal, with legs capable of running
Logical fallaciesFalse assumptions
Misinformation
Be weary of arguments based on:
Evolution
Critical Thinking4 Components
Analysis
Inference
Interpretation
Deductive reasoning
Analysis • Determine the credibility of the evidence.
• Are there any assumptions?• Are there any logical
fallacies?
Ad Hominem – Name callingEquivocation - Different meaningsBifurcation – Either or fallacyStrawman – Distorting the position
Analysis
Inference • What elements are needed to draw the conclusion?
• We need to query the evidence: ask questions
Analysis
Inference
• Decode the argument• Clarify the argument • What is the real issue?
(presuppositional)
Interpretation
Analysis
Inference
• What does the premise really allow us to conclude?
• Draw a logical conclusion based on the evidence presented in the argument.
Interpretation
Deductive Reasoning
Critical Thinking and EvolutionBiological Evolution
The Mechanism for ChangeTOOLS
3 critical thinking questionsFossil question
4 components of critical thinking
How Evolution Happens?Millions of years of mutations
add new information
Selection Process
Amoeba Man
Will millions of years of mutations and natural selection allow for amoeba to man evolution?
Critical Thinking
TOOLBox
3 QuestionsFossil Question4 Components
Critical Thinking
No ambiguity State exactly what is included and
what is not included in the definition domain
In science definitions must be clear and precise.
Evolution
Evolution
Requires the addition of
new genetic
Upward progression
Information
Analyzing Popular Definitions of Evolution
Evolution is change over time. (valid / not valid)
Genetic change in a species over time (valid / not valid)
Any change in the relative frequencies of alleles in the gene pool of a population (valid / not valid)
1. _________________2. _________________3. _________________4. _________________5. _________________
Challenging QuestionWhat is a good definition of
Darwinian evolution?
Random mutationBeneficialAdd new informationMust surviveReproduce more offspring
Analyzing the Mechanisms for EvolutionMutations
Natural Selection
Mutations
No change
No evolution
Disease
No evolution
Add information
Produce more
offspring that survive
Detrimental Neutral BeneficialDetrimental Neutral BeneficialDetrimental Neutral
Information
Natural SelectionWhat is it?
What Is Natural Selection?Charles Darwin
“It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers.”Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 1859, p. 84.
Three Assumptions about Natural Selection
1. Assume natural selection is responsible for appearance of design and complexity.
2. Assume an external source as the source of design.
3. Assume natural selection has the capability to choose beneficial mutations (intelligence).
Critical Thinking and Natural Selection
Natural
Caused by nature (natural processes)
Selection
Selector(Intelligence)
Natural Selection
Exposure interface
Pre-programmed information
Environment
3 Questions About Natural Selection
1. What is it that natural selection actually does and how does it work?
2. Selection implies intelligence. Who or what is actually doing or causing the selection?
3. Since selection does not address the origin of information, and mutations are known to cause a loss of information or function, is there any observational evidence for where the vast amount of information in DNA came from?
What Is Natural Selection?
It is an artificial mechanism devised by man to replace the power and intelligence of God.
Words have meaningCritical Thinking
Fuzzy WordsMagic Words
A Lesson in Reading
Fuzzy Words We believe We think Must have Could have Might have Our opinion is We guess Over millions of years
No observable evidence
What Happened
Biology, Miller and Levine, 2002, p. 426.
“Those life forms must have evolved in the absence of oxygen,…”
Fuzzy Words
Life Science, Prentice Hall (Grade 7), 2002, p. 410.
“Paleontologist think that Archaeopteryx and today’s birds descended from some kind of reptile, possibly from a dinosaur.”
April 21, 2010, http://www.physorg.com
“Scientists are reporting discovery of what may be the "ancestral Eve" crystal that billions of years ago gave life on Earth its curious and exclusive preference for so-called left-handed amino acids. .”
Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1998, p. 193.
RNA was probably the first genetic molecule.”
Joseph Silk, Ph.D. Astronomy, The Big Bang, 2001, p. 170.
“Imagine that infinitesimal fluctuations in density were present in the early universe…. The expansion of the universe must have exerted a stabilizing influence on such irregularities. The expanding universe has the effect of greatly impeding what otherwise might have been catastrophic forces…. Nevertheless, the process of growth of fluctuations went on for a very long time,…”
“The first cells could not have needed oxygen to survive. They probably were heterotrophs that used the chemicals in their surroundings for energy….. At some point, some of the cells may have developed the ability to make their own food.”
Prentice Hall, Science Explorer: Life Science, 2002, p. 46.
Magic Words Appeared Emerged Arose Gave rise to Was on the way to becoming Burst onto the scene Evolved itself Was making a transition to
How It Happened
“Evo-devo proposes that genes involved in cobbling together flesh and bone during early growth were repurposed to develop new structures throughout evolution's history, by combining their functions in new ways.”
USA Today, “Why did bugs grow wings to fly?”, Mar 29, 2010.
“All [dinosaurs] probably evolved from a scurrying, bipedal, pheasant-size reptile.”
National Geographic, January 1993, p. 12.
“Into this world came the dinosaurs, initially small bipedal carnivores, and they rose to dominance at some point during the Triassic.”
The Complete Dinosaur, Edited by James O. Farlow and M. K. Brett-Surman, 1997, p. 204.
Critical Thinking
Asking Questions
Asking QuestionsLife originated about 3.7 billion years ago in a pool of chemicals.
Asking Questions“About 6 million years ago, the hominoid line gave rise to a branch that ultimately led to the ancestors and closest relatives of modern humans.” - Biology, Miller and Levine, 2002, p. 835.
Asking QuestionsNAS, Science and Creationism, 1999, p. 11
Finches: Different beak shapes
“The different species of finches on the Galapagos islands, now known as Darwin’s finches, have different-sized beaks that have evolved to take advantage of distinct food types.”
Asking Questions
Normal fruit fly
Short-winged fruit fly
Curly-winged fruit fly
Yellow fruit fly
Orange-eyed fruit fly
White-eyed fruit fly
Eyeless fruit fly
Asking Questions
Wingless beetle
Eyeless fish
Caterpillar to butterfly
Asking Questions
What questions could I ask?
Dinosaurs evolved into
birds.
Asking Questions
What questions could I ask?
Natural selection is one of the
basic mechanisms of
evolution.
Asking Questions
Do you believe in evolution?
Critical Thinking and the Challenge of Relativism
Why are you Christians against a woman’s right
to choose?
Critical Thinking and the Challenge of Relativism
Do you take the Bible literally?
The EndBuilding
Critical Thinkers
Mike Riddlewww.CreationTraining.org
Answers Book 1, 2, & 3
Apologetics DVDsby Mike Riddle
© Answers in Genesis-USA
Discerning TruthDr. Jason Lisle
© Answers in Genesis-USA
Ask Them Whyby Jay Lucas
Apologetics
© Answers in Genesis-USA
The Rights FightJay Lucas
ApologeticsDefending our Christian rights
4 Power QuestionsBy Mike Riddle
Basic Creation TrainingA course on creation for teens and above. Learn about God’s creation and how to refute the claims of evolution and theistic evolution.
Advanced Creation ApologeticsLearn how to ask probing questions andrecognize and respond to logical fallacies used by evolutionists. Learn to use presuppositional apologetics in discussions.
Christian Teacher/Leader TrainingTraining that goes beyond what is taught in “teacher colleges”. Sharpen your Sunday school teaching skills. Also, how to create a Sunday school program that is life changing.
Building an “Army” of Christian Educators
For more information www.CreationTraining.org
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www.CreationTraining.org