Accepting and understanding evolution in Italy: a case study from a selected public attending a Darwin Day celebration

Abstract

Background: Public acceptance and understanding of evolution is among the most investigated themes within studies of science and society. In the past decades, scientists and educators have explored acceptance and understanding of the Darwinian theories across a variety of publics, in order to identify possible causal explanations and barriers that make evolution so difficult to be grasped. Indeed, there are both socio-cultural and intuitive reasoning factors which have been widely investigated especially in the USA, a country that shows a widespread resistance. More recently data for Europe, Africa and the Middle East have been published, showing significant differences explained mainly by socio-cultural, religious and political factors. In this respect, the Italian society is still under-investigated. This paper presents and discusses the outcomes of a public survey performed during a Darwin Day celebration in Rome (Italy, February 2013). Methods: A written questionnaire was submitted to all the participants with the aim of testing attitudes and level of knowledge about evolution among an interested and informed public (N = 124). Results: The results show that acceptance of evolution is not an issue in such a selected sector of the lay public, although difficulties emerge in the comprehension of some basic principles. Conclusions:Overall, younger people perform better than respondents older than 65 years, reflecting how science education in Italy has progressed in the latest decades.

Does integrating natural selection throughout upper secondary biology education result in a better understanding? A cross-national comparison between Flanders, Belgium and the Netherlands

“…Coyne, 2012;Dennis & Borgerding, 2018;Miller et al, 2006). In the past decades, scientists and educators have explored acceptance and understanding of evolution across a variety of publics, in order to identify possible causal explanations and barriers that make evolution so difficult to accept or understand (Crivellaro & Sperduti, 2014). Considering cross-national comparisons, these mainly focused on the factors that influence the acceptance of evolution, revealing a negative relationship with fundamentalist religious beliefs and religiosity, and a positive relationship with genetic and scientific literacy, and school-life expectancy (see e.g.…”

Do people have control over the decisions they make? Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the free will and scientific determinism questionnaire (FAD-plus-I)

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It’s a Dead Man’s Party: Integrative Evolutionary Education through Darwin Day

“…Methods of celebration vary according to location, student reception, monetary constraints, and other factors. However, at the most basic level, celebrations are successful because they involve a group of people passionate about celebrating the life and legacy of Charles Darwin (Crivellaro & Sperduti, 2014). A large-scale Darwin Day celebration held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences touts its program as the "largest event of its kind in the country!"…”