By MARK HENDERSON, SCIENCE EDITOR - THE TIMES
Added: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:05:57 UTC

Every child should begin to be taught the basics of evolution when they are as young as five, according to Professor Richard Dawkins.

The Darwinian explanation for the diversity of life on Earth is so powerful and important that it should become a compulsory part of the primary school curriculum, according to the biologist, whose new book is aimed at children.

In The Magic of Reality, extracts of which are published today in Eureka, The Times’ science magazine, Professor Dawkins seeks to explain scientific concepts such as evolution, atoms and stars for all ages. Writing in Eureka, he argues that evolution can be understood from a young age. “Evolution could be taught in such a way as to make it easier to understand than a myth,” he writes. “This is because myths leave the child’s questions unanswered, or they raise more questions than they appear to answer.”

While many primary schools already teach some aspects of evolution, it is not compulsory. A proposal to add it to the national curriculum was accepted by Labour ministers in 2009, but was dropped last year by the coalition. The Department for Education said the Labour plans were too prescriptive, and has begun a fresh curriculum review.

Professor Dawkins said that evolution was so critical to understanding biology that it deserved a place on even a short list of mandatory topics.

“If we are going to be prescriptive about teaching history, comparative religion, maths and English — and I wouldn’t wish to sweep those things away — I don’t see why we shouldn’t be prescriptive about teaching the explanation for our existence,” he said.

Professor Dawkins added that he was no longer concerned that the new free schools would be allowed to teach creationism as science, following assurances from the Education Secretary. “I recently attended a dinner with Michael Gove, and I was impressed with his determination in this regard,” he said.

Professor Dawkins’s proposals were endorsed by Michael Reiss, Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education, who is also a Church of England priest. “What we need is a curriculum with big themes, and in biology the biggest theme there is is evolution,” he said.

Professor Reiss said that simple concepts that are important to evolution, such as the age of the Earth and the extinction of species such as dinosaurs, could be introduced to children as young as 5 or 6. “I’m rather sorry we don’t use the dinosaurs more in the school curriculum,” he said. “We have the Vikings and the Egyptians, and we jolly well should have the dinosaurs too.”

Pupils would then be better equipped to understand other aspects of evolutionary theory later on in their education, with more complex details of genetics and natural selection being taught from 14 to 16, he said.

The Magic of Reality is published on September 15 by Bantam Press.

Moderator's note:
We have reproduced the article in full above. The original can be found here. It is behind a paywall, but also includes an audio of Richard and Lalla reading an extract from The Magic of Reality.
The Eureka article by Richard, referred to above, has been posted separately on this site.

TAGGED: BOOKS, CHILDREN, EDUCATION, EVOLUTION, RICHARD DAWKINS