Yes they are. If I remember correctly, it goes hypothesis, theory and ends as fact. A theory is something that can be tested and confirmed, but not 100% conclusive. Theories can also be tested and be proven wrong any day.
That is what I remember. It's been 30 years.
Facts are data: the size of the moon, the hardness of a rock, age of a fossil, the fact that change occurs through time.
Evolution is a theory. A theory is used to organize data. Heinlein said it well:
Look again at the definition of a theory that I posted above:Piling up facts is not science--science is facts-and-theories. Facts alone have limited use and lack meaning: a valid theory organizes them into far greater usefulness.
A powerful theory not only embraces old facts and new but also discloses unsuspected facts [Heinlein 1980:480-481].
Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"
In addition to being a fact (things change over time), evolution is an explanation of how things change over time. The theory of evolution has withstood 150 years of challenges, including by fields of investigation--genetics and radiometric dating, for example--that did not exist when the theory was proposed. Every fossil that is found, and every DNA sequence that is decoded constitutes a test of the theory of evolution. It has passed all test to date.
You beat me to it. Good explanation.