Theories explain facts, and contrary to the impression given by the disclaimer, this means that theories are more important than facts. The disclaimer also will confuse students about the nature of science by implying that science concerns only directly observable phenomena. Ironically, well-written science textbooks place even less confidence in current ideas about how life may have originated than the disclaimer does. Typically, ideas about the origin of life are regarded as hypotheses , placing them a rung lower on the scientific hierarchy of ideas than the textbook committee was willing to do. The word evolution may refer to many types of change.
Evolution describes changes that occur within a species.
This process is micro evolution, which can be observed and described as fact. The writers of the disclaimer apparently share this definition, and are correct in noting that we can observe these processes at work. Evolution may also refer to the change of one living thing into another, such as reptiles into birds. This process, called macro evolution, has never been observed and should be considered a theory. Here the writers of the disclaimer do not use the scientific meaning of the crucial term.