Abstract

Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.

Highlights

  • 1.1 IntroductionEvolutionary theory is one of the most important theories in science (Dobzhansky 1973; Futuyma 1995) given that it underpins all biological disciplines by accounting for the phylogenetic, structural, and functional relatedness of all living things

  • The analysis revealed that the majority of videos conveyed few key concepts of natural selection

  • We have provided a first record of the concepts related to natural selection that are conveyed by online videos purporting to explain the theory of evolution

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Summary

Introduction

Evolutionary theory is one of the most important theories in science (Dobzhansky 1973; Futuyma 1995) given that it underpins all biological disciplines by accounting for the phylogenetic, structural, and functional relatedness of all living things It has profound implications for complex societal issues such as bacterial resistance to antibiotics and adaptations to climate change. Visual representations could make important contributions to fostering understanding of evolutionary processes In this regard, the relatively scarce attention in educational research on biological visualizations and simulations that is paid to evolution has prompted Lee and Tsai (2013) to recommend further research to address the potential of learning abstract and complex biological concepts through dynamic visualizations. Given the challenges of learning natural selection and the accompanying increase in the number of available online explanatory videos, it is important to examine how emerging digital teaching and learning tools convey the subject

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