ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Evolution as theory and fact

Evolution is like a big puzzle that people are trying to figure out. The puzzle is all about how living things (like plants and animals) change over time. Some people think that this idea is just a theory, or a possible explanation. Other people think that it's more than that, and that it's actually a fact.

A theory is something that scientists come up with to explain what's happening in the world. It's like trying to figure out why your cookie dough turned out crumbly. You might come up with a theory that you didn't put in enough butter or sugar. But until you test it out, you don't really know for sure.

In science, theories are based on lots of evidence. Evidence is like all the pieces of the puzzle that scientists have found. For example, they might find bones of animals that lived a long time ago, and they might see how those bones are different from the bones of animals today. They might also look at the DNA (the instructions for how living things are made) of different animals and see how they are similar or different.

The theory of evolution is based on lots of evidence like this. Scientists have found lots of different pieces of the puzzle that support the idea that living things change over time. They've also tested their ideas in many different ways, and they've found that the theory still seems to be true.

But some people might still say that evolution is just a theory, and not a fact. They might think that because not every single detail is known yet, that means the theory isn't really real. But that's not how science works. In science, a theory is something that has been tested many times and has been found to be true. And that's what evolution is - a theory that has been tested and found to be true by scientists all over the world.