But what’s the analog to “planes keep flying” when it comes to evolution? How do you practically test a theory of evolution so that you can say, “See? That’s shows that it works, whether we completely understand how or not.”
Tacking on an argument that’s unsupported, no matter what it is, is poor writing. She could have tacked on a perfectly non-controversial two sentences about a fresh topic and still had points deducted because the new section is not integrated with the response or elaborated by examples or discussion.
My Essay about Cats
Cats come from x, y, z
Example
Example
Some speculate, however, that blah blah, blah
Elaboration
Example
However, mitochondrial squee studies show
Blah, blah
Thus demonstrating definitively that cats are from outer space.
Some people like puppies. There’s no reason not to love a puppy.
The End. By Shoshana
This sums up my opinion nicely. Also, I can’t help wondering what part of the story we’re not getting. If the question was “Write 200 words about about the relationship between beneficial mutation and evolutionary change” and she wrote 170 cogent and persuasive words about it and then tacked on the other I.D. stuff to pad the word count I think reducing the grade is valid.
I side with the professor too, on both counts, comment is irrelavent, and points should be deducted, it’s a SCIENCE course, not a Divinities course
I would say Diogenes’ post #80 answers that pretty darn goodly.
Radial symmetry is more likely to be selected for in a sessile creature, which has to wait for food to come to it. Since one cannot always be sure from which direction said food will come, the more directions one “faces” at once, the more likely one will be to actually get some of that food.
That evolution occurs is not controversial (even to IDists). Evolution is, if anything, more an observation than a theory. The mechanisms and details of many processes which make up the actual theories, however, often are controversial. I don’t accept Dawkins’ “selfish gene” theory, and I accept Gould & Eldredge’s Punctuated Equilibirum theory. I feel that there is more to macroevolution than simply microevolution writ large. Obviously, there are those who disagree with me, even here on this board. Those are but a few of the controversies within the field. And there are certainly unknowns, as well. That is perfectly in line with “various issues of evolution remain unexplained and or controversial”.
Most, if not all, of the responses to any given test are not original ideas by students…
Besides what Diogenes the Cynic said, there’s such things as the evolution of drug resistance in bacteria, and evolution in general witnessed in all sorts of wildlife. And there’s the fact that the known nature of life; variable heredity combined with differing rates of reproduction according to that heredity, pretty much mandates some sort of evolution.
But they are supposed to come from the teacher and course materials, not outside influences.
I meant to say that the student didn’t just think that up; it wasn’t generated solely by personal doubts during class study. The wording of her statement suggests that she heard that from a particular ID/Creationist argument outside the class and repeated it without giving it much thought. That’s what “parroted” means to me.
The whole point of answering a question is knowing what is the answer to the question and what isn’t the answer. If you answer a question with something that isn’t the answer, you have given the wrong answer.
Q: Why is the sky blue?
A: Blah blah Rayleigh scattering… and CHEESE!