For this assignment, you are expected to have a conversation with someone you know, such as a friend or relative, about evolution. This is designed for you to find out how much the person you interviewed understand evolution and for you to explain to her/him what you have learned in this course in the hope that you may be able to correct, or at least reduce, her/his misconceptions about evolution and its underlying mechanisms. The following points should be observed:
1. First of all, respect the person(s) whom you will be talking to. You are NOT on a mission to convert anyone, therefore try to communicate and avoid being aggressive; ?
2. Topics required to be included in the conversation include the following and coverage ?of additional topics of evolutionary biology is encouraged:
a. Discuss the fundamental differences between science and non-science, including ?religions/intelligent design/other forms of creationism. Explain why evolution is a ?science, but religions/intelligent design/other forms of creationism are not; ?
b. Explain what is evolution exactly and what are the evidences for evolution. Be sure to ?use examples that your interviewee can connect with; ?
c. Explain that evolution as a natural process is a fact, while the theory of evolution is ?simply causal explanations of evolution; ?
d. The two-step Natural Selection process as a mechanism of evolution, and there are ?other mechanisms for evolution as well; ?
e. Artificial selection as examples of human controlled / moderated evolution. ?You may include additional topics of evolution, but try not to tire out the other party.
3. For each required topic, you should start by finding out how much your subject(s) know ?about. Then go forward explaining to your subjects how these have been presented in our class. You should try to find out major differences between your opinions and his/hers, and try to discuss with her/him/them on this particular topic. It is not enough to simply know what your interviewee(s)'s opinions are, and you need to let him/her/them know what you have learned in this class and include enough detail to allow for reasonable understanding by the other party;
4. Point deduction for late submission applies at 10% per each day late (see due date above);
5. For the report, you should include:
a. A brief background information of the person you have the conversation with; ?
b. A narrative account of the conversation. DO NOT USE dialog style! ?
c. A discussion at the end: how it went, did it work (or not), what are the biggest ?misconceptions about evolution, why it was such an easy (or hard) thing to ?
explain the whole theory of evolution to people and people have no problem with
it, and what you have learned from this assignment.
6. Minimum length 6 double-spaced pages . Times New ?Roman font, not larger than font size 12, no extra space between paragraphs, and one ?inch margin on all sides;
7. The paper is subject to Turnitin service implemented in to check for potential ?plagiarism. Accepted similarity index (SI) is 10% or less, a paper with 20% or higher SI will not automatically receive zero point;