Abstract
The work is part of a wider research project wherein we are trying to further explore the conceptual ecology of evolutionary theory of present and prospective teachers in Greece. Quantitative and qualitative research was applied. In the former a questionnaire was answered by 318 secondary school teachers who teach biology. We further interviewed eight of the teachers by means of semi structured interviews and analyzed the interviews using the QSR nVivo program. Acceptance of evolution levels was found moderate both in the total cohort and among science teachers; on the one hand, this was correlated with the prevalence of low level of knowledge and understanding due to lack of previous instruction; on the other hand, their type of religiosity was not a serious obstacle to accepting evolution, since it was correlated with a high degree of thinking dispositions. The results are in agreement with our previous findings that the type of religiosity is crucial for the acceptance or rejection of evolution, particularly when it does not prevent someone from being “open-minded”. At the same time, the fact that geologists who teach science showed the highest level of acceptance of evolution, indicates, when paired with other evidence, that the geological data are the most convincing evidence to help students and teachers to make a first step in their multistep route towards accepting and understanding the theory of evolution.
Highlights
The work is part of a wider research project wherein we are trying to further explore the conceptual ecology of evolutionary theory of present and prospective teachers in Greece
Researchers seem to have different views, according to their philosophical and epistemological beliefs and ways of thinking (Southerland et al 2001; Jones and Leagon 2014). Another question we examine in the present study is, whether or not a teachers’ specialty affects their conceptual ecology for biological evolution (CEBE)
We present the scores, standard deviations and standard errors of mean, both in the acceptance and understanding of the Evolution theory (ET), recorded in teachers with different subject matter knowledge i.e. biologists and other science teachers
Summary
Alarming signs on several fronts attest to the latter point Examples for these are Islamic creationism or the rise in Evolution is considered a concept—threshold that needs to be crossed before someone can develop his/ her understanding of a broader range of natural phenomena and of the nature of science (Kinchin 2010). Athanasiou et al Evo Edu Outreach (2016) 9:7 it shows that the acceptance of ET is restricted and the knowledge informing it is limited and gives rise to controversy among science students and teachers (Demastes et al 1995a, b; Deniz et al 2008; Peker et al 2010; Nehm et al 2009). Evolution is considered, often by several teachers, a subject to avoid in teaching, either because of the difficulties it poses as a framework, and because some find it opposing their religious convictions
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