Is it controversial to teach about the big bang theory in school? If so, why?
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answers:
Vincent G say: In my opinion. Yes, it is controversial. I recall going to the Hall Of Science in Flushing when I was in school, and I remember being very disappointed. The Big Bang Theory requires an extensive amount of belief. Belief that is beyond humankind. Basically they are saying that the formation of Earth happened by chance?
Please note that this has nothing to do with my religion. I was an atheist at the time, and I was very fascinated with science, but this theory makes no sense at all. Saying that a bunch of stars morphed together is no different than saying God created the Heaven and the Earth. If there is further evidence that supports the Big Bang Theory, then I will consider going back to it.
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Manuel say: No, it is the best theory we have at the moment.
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Jeffrey K say: No, not controversial at all. The Big Bang is a well supported scientific theory.
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JosephV say: It is not controversial. However, the theory is hard to grasp and excessive time must not be spent on this matter.
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William say: Only if it is taught correctly. Sorry to say but High School teachers are rarely accurate when it comes to cosmology and astrophysics. They ought to show recorded lectures by qualified people, or bring in a guest lecturer from a university.
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Joey Joe Joe say: Yes, I think it is controversial because it clearly appears to be built on a false assumption... I think it is okay to talk about the theory so long as we talk about creation and compare the two world views of how we got here.
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Clive say: It shouldn't be. Certainly not in science classes, as this is by far the majority opinion amongst scientists.
There's never been any controversy about teaching it. There's been far more about teaching "creationism" in schools because there's no evidence for it and yet some religious types insist it has to be at least taught as an alternative to the idea that life evolved.
Hence the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - "I believe that the FSM created the universe at the touch of his noodly appendage, why can't that be taught as a third alternative?" That was a response to the Kansas school board wanting to enforce teaching "creationism", and has become famous because it works so well - there's just as much evidence for it as anything the average religion says (i.e. none), so why not teach that too?
The Big Bang is far less controversial for the obvious reason that even if you believe some god created the universe, believing that this was HOW he did it is not difficult. Actually, the Steady State Theory causes more religious problems as it says the universe never had a beginning, but the average religion says it did. It was even a Catholic priest, Lemaitre, who came up with the Big Bang Theory in the first place.
When I studied physics at university, the religious students had no problem with the Big Bang and we had a couple of professors who were Christian - no problem for them either. It was the Christian biology students who had the most trouble if they ever said "evolution didn't happen".
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Raymond say: No.
At least, if you teach the real theory (called Big Bang by Fred Hoyle in 1949 -- Fred was an adversary of the theory).
All the theory does is to claim that the expansion of space has an effect on the energy content of the universe:
Same total amount of energy + more space to spread it out = the energy density goes down with time.
Conclusion: the universe cools as space expands.
The theory was published in 1948 and, immediately, everyone tried to prove it wrong (this is what we all do about all theories - since they come out hundreds at a time).
It survived the first year (which is already quite rare for a theory).
Fred Hoyle was a very famous astrophysicist. He was also a proud atheist; he claimed that being atheist made him a better scientist. He was very much against the idea (and the mathematical model) behind the 1948 theory, mostly because it led to the idea that the universe may have had a start - a "moment of creation" (the ideas and mathematics behind the 1948 theory were from a priest).
Fred published his own theory in 1949 and named it "Steady State". The other theory did not yet have such a catchy nickname. During a radio interview, Fred came up with "Big Bang" as a way to make fun of the 1948 theory. Unfortunately, the name stuck (it gives the false impression that the theory includes an explosion, which is does not). In Steady State, the energy density remains constant despite the expansion of space; the Steady State universe eternally remains at the same temperature.
All the rest of what Big Bang includes is simply the application of known scientific principles to the energy of the universe. For example, it is well known from lab experiments, that hydrogen gas hotter than 3000 degrees is not transparent (that is because the heat keeps knocking the electrons out of their orbits around the protons - and free charged particles love to interact with light).
Since the Big Bang theory claims the universe was hotter in the past, then the theory "predicts" that the universe only became transparent when the "temperature" (the energy density) went from above 3000 to below 3000.
Sure enough, with new radio-telescopes in 1964, the evidence (Cosmic Microwave Background radiation) showed that there was a moment (over 13 billion years ago) when it happened. Under Fred's "Steady State", this is impossible.
That is simply application of known scientific knowledge. As such, there is no controversy.
Controversy occurs when someone tries to teach Big Bang as a model of "Creation". The theory says nothing about creation, as it cannot go back beyond what we call the Planck Time (when the Observable Universe was already in existence and space was already expanding). IF (a big if) there was a "Creation", it happened before the earliest moment that can be analyzed by Big Bang.
Unfortunately, the priest who had come up with the ideas DID write that Big Bang represented how the universe bahaved right after [his] God created the universe.
Or worst: "Creationists" wanting to discredit the Big Bang theory, teach it all wrong on purpose, then claim that it is therefore impossible. They just continue the atheist work that Fred had started.
Thus teaching THAT version of Big Bang is also controversial.
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There are still things about the universe that don't quite fit with the Big Bang theory. So far, they are just "annoyances" (they don't prove the theory to be wrong -- we simply do not know how to fit them in the theory). Things like Dark Matter. Until we find out what Dark Matter really is, then we will either be able to fit it in or... we will need to fix or replace Big Bang with a better theory.
Teaching that Big Bang is "perfect" would be controversial. It is not perfect. It is simply (for now) the most useful tool we have to understand how the universe behaves.
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Elaine say: There is no simple answer to your question as it may depend on the school district or individual school. Excluding arguments for "creationism" the Big Bang Theory should be presented as a theory with arguments both pro and con.
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John say: Only to those who live in fear of being found out as being frauds.
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henry say: yes it's very controversial because no matter how much prove it has it will always be questioned by at least 1 person, then multiply that
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TSM_908 say: Only controversial in societies that are ultra right wing Christian. The rest of us and atheists like myself see no controversy in this science.
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MARK say: It may be controversial if it were taught in an English literature class. However, I do not understand why people find it controversial to teach science to students in science classes. The Big Bang was a pejorative name given to this explanation but it stuck and is used. It is unfortunate because it is not correctly descriptive of what happened. But, what is taught, i.e. the formation of the universe, is a very valid thing to teach students. The Big Bang theory* is the explanation we have for it, which is supported by the evidence.
*Here 'theory' is used as the technical term found in the scientific lexicon and not its general, everyday meaning.
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Tom S say: No, it is not controversial to teach that.
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Ronald 7 say: Not really
It is the best Scenario for the beginning of our Universe yet
I don't believe it was the beginning of time however
It was undoubtedly the most important moment in History
Although nobody was there to write about it
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gregory_dittman say: The Big Bang is taught wrong at least when I went to school.
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ignoramus say: This is nothing whatever to do with astronomy. Try this in the Religion & Spirituality section ; or, better yet, Mythology and Folklore, where it belongs.
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quantumclaustrophobe say: Shouldn't be... it's the leading scientific theory about how the universe has behaved since it's creation - and, always subject to change as more information is discovered.
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jehen say: It shouldn't be. The universe popping into existence from a singularity is the prevailing theory. And the show is funny too.
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Jade say: No, it should be taught in school because that's how the world began right?
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Jackolantern say: Only if it is taught in Sunday School because it contradicts religion beliefs. And should.
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JG say: Yes. because some students and their parents are CHRISTIANS and the parents would OBJECT to the idea of this THEORY being taught to their kids.
It would certainly be controversial if it is excluding "creationism" or "intelligent design", or in other words, leaving GOD out of the equation.
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smart girl say: controversial
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oneofmagi@rocketmail.com say: the teacher`s brain will be melted.
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Bill-M say: No it is not. At least in a public school.
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The_Doc_Man say: The controversy exists only in the minds of those who cannot see past their pastor's pulpit. To the rest of us, it is fairly certain that Father LeMaitre's "Big Bang" really happened. (Yes, the Big Bang was the idea of a Jesuit priest who taught astrophysics at college level.)
There ARE controversies over the technical details, but not that something occurred 13.8 billion years ago and that our know universe somehow comes from that event.
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Norman say: I don't see a problem. They might discuss why it could have happened.
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poldi2 say: The Big Bang is the currently accepted cosmological model, the only controversy is with religious people that believe in creationism.
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CarolOklaNola say: Yes, it is somewhat controversial, but not as controversial as teaching evolution in school is. Its controversial because science and religion are supposedly enemies. The controversy about evolution is 160 years old. The controversy about the Big Bang is 90 years old. Ironically, A Catholic priest who became a monseignor was the father of the Big Bang
Science and religion and religion are nit enemies, but try explaining that ti some Christians. You will be accused of lying and being a hypocrite or a messenger of Satan. And you winder why so many kids are so closed minded so young.
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Jim say: I don't know why it would be, especially among the religious.
The big bang is the best evidence for the existence of God.
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AdamTheAtheist say: No.
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Acetek say: no it is not. public schools teach science not religion so there is no controversy
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Tide say: It's not, nearly all the schools all over the world teach it. Even most religious schools teach it.
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