Abstract
Abstract Despite a considerable amount of scientific evidence, evolution is still a highly controversial issue in American education. This review analyzes studies that investigate the relationship between evolution education, the nature of science, and religious beliefs in U.S. universities. We performed a comprehensive literature search focusing on publications that analyzed and compared at least two of the following constructs: understanding of evolutionary theory (ET), acceptance of ET, instruction in ET, prior exposure to ET, religious beliefs, understanding the nature of science, and understanding of scientific theories. Here, we examine publications for consistent relationships among constructs across studies and discuss the most commonly cited education strategies for teaching evolution in higher education. Based on the literature, we find that instruction has a significant and positive effect on acceptance and understanding of ET; acceptance and understanding, however, are not directly related. We also find that the relationship between acceptance of ET and religious beliefs is unclear and needs further research. Through reviewing 15 published studies, we find that the primary problems associated with undergraduate evolution education research are: small sample size, varying methodologies, lack of statistical analysis, inappropriate use of constructs, and lack of continuity among studies. This review exposes the need for a unifying framework and development of experts in this field to investigate and understand the factors that affect evolution education at U.S. universities.
Highlights
Evolution is a central and unifying theme in biology that provides a foundational framework for explaining a broad range of intriguing biological questions (National Academy of Sciences 1999; Rutledge and Mitchell 2002; Scharmann 1993)
U.S citizens seem to have become increasingly neutral on this issue since acceptance of evolution dropped from 45% to 40% while the percentage of adults rejecting this theory declined from 48% to 39% between 1985 and 2005
This study aims to investigate the relationships between evolution education, the nature of science, and religious beliefs in U.S universities by reviewing published research
Summary
Evolution is a central and unifying theme in biology that provides a foundational framework for explaining a broad range of intriguing biological questions (National Academy of Sciences 1999; Rutledge and Mitchell 2002; Scharmann 1993). These questions can be sufficiently answered only through the theory of evolution (Dobzhansky 1973). Stated, this theory describes how populations change over time due to changes in allele frequencies (Freeman and Herron 2007). The theory of evolution describes genetic change in form, function, and behavior of organisms across generations due to natural selection, chance (e.g., genetic drift), historical contingencies (e.g., distributional patterns), and changing environments (National Center for Science Education 2012). The percentage of U.S citizens accepting the theory of evolution, for instance, was only 40% based on a national survey of U.S citizens’ views toward evolution that was implemented in 2005 (Miller et al 2006). The percentage of U.S citizens who reported not being sure about the validity of
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