Abstract
Evolution is a cornerstone that combines all sub-branches of biology in a meaningful way. Developing a true understanding of evolution, however, can only be achieved through comprehensive education. In the community, teachers have an important role in removing erroneous attitudes toward evolution, in which science and biology teachers have a key role. This study aimed to reveal pre-service teachers’ perspective on evolution by eliciting the opinions of science pre-service teachers who had attended a 14-week evolution course and those who had not yet taken this course using a delimited draft sentence. According to the data, students who had limited knowledge about evolution, either dogmatically rejected evolution or defined evolution in a simple way, as a change. The rate of rejecting the concept of evolution was decreased among the students who had taken the course about evolution. In addition, there was an increased ratio of those who described evolution using high-level knowledge and a non-rejecting style. Another interesting outcome mentioned in the statements of the students was that keeping the content of the course as wide as possible reduced prejudice against the concept of evolution, decreased rejection rate, and also allowed students to change the erroneous/incorrect ideas that they previously held about evolution.
Highlights
Darwin summarized evolution as ―all the organic beings which have ever lived on this planet, have their origin from a primitive form‖
Evolution is a cornerstone that combines all sub-branches of biology in a meaningful way, it is a controversial issue
It has been found that the opinions of the students who attend earth sciences or biology courses are quite suspicious, and this is reflected in the status of the whole population
Summary
Darwin summarized evolution as ―all the organic beings which have ever lived on this planet, have their origin from a primitive form‖. Research shows that there are conflicts and controversial opinions on this topic in almost every country in the world (Blackwell, Powell, & Dukes, 2003; Glaze, & Goldston, 2015a; Thagard & Findlay, 2010), and the concept is usually rejected (Tidon, & Lewontin, 2004; Barnes & Brownell, 2016; Alters, & Nelson 2002). The broad-based research of Miller, Scott, and Okamoto (2006) showed that the tendency to accept evolution is higher in Europe compared to other parts of the world, such as Turkey, USA, and Cyprus. None of the topics covered in physics, chemistry, and biology attracts the attention of society as the theory of evolution. Nadelson and Southerland (2012) stated that evolution was misunderstood all over the world, especially because the scientific explanations presented by individuals who are not experts in the field
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