“Are Humans Evolving?” A Classroom Discussion to Change Student Misconceptions Regarding Natural Selection

Abstract

Natural selection is an important mechanism in the unifying biological theory of evolution, but many undergraduate students struggle to learn this concept. Students enter introductory biology courses with predictable misconceptions about natural selection, and traditional teaching methods, such as lecturing, are unlikely to dispel these misconceptions. Instead, students are more likely to learn natural selection when they are engaged in instructional activities specifically designed to change misconceptions. Three instructional strategies useful for changing student conceptions include (1) eliciting naïve conceptions from students, (2) challenging nonscientific conceptions, and (3) emphasizing conceptual frameworks throughout instruction. In this paper, we describe a classroom discussion of the question "Are humans evolving?" that employs these three strategies for teaching students how natural selection operates. Our assessment of this activity shows that it successfully elicits students' misconceptions and improves student understanding of natural selection. Seventy-eight percent of our students who began this exercise with misconceptions were able to partially or completely change their misconceptions by the end of this discussion. The course that this activity was part of also showed significant learning gains (d = 1.48) on the short form of the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection. This paper includes all the background information, data, and visual aids an instructor will need to implement this activity.

Six Classroom Exercises to Teach Natural Selection to Undergraduate Biology Students

“…Two of these exercises have been described previously: Kalinowski et al. (2010) described the dog-breeding discussion, and Andrews et al. (2011a) described and assessed the human evolution discussion.…”

Accepting, understanding, teaching, and learning (human) evolution: Obstacles and opportunities

“…With pre‐lesson assessment of what students understand about evolution, teachers can be empowered to refine their lessons to strengthen areas where students are challenged and minimize instruction on those topics that students largely understand with the aim of increasing their students’ overall understanding of evolution (Hermann, ). Using formative assessments of students’ understanding of evolution can also facilitate real‐time tracking of students’ needs and progress, letting teachers adjust their instruction (Cunningham and Wescott, ; Nehm et al, ; Andrews et al, ; Zabel and Gropengeisser, ; Glaze and Goldston, ).…”

“…Compared with teaching the same course without using the dynamic nature of human evolution as a main focus, student attitudes toward evolution shifted less. Andrews et al () outline how a classroom discussion of the question “are humans evolving?” using three active learning strategies specifically designed to change student misconceptions (eliciting naive conceptions from students, challenging nonscientific conceptions, and emphasizing conceptual frameworks) successfully elicited misconceptions and improved understanding of natural selection in over 75% of the students. They present valuable examples of students’ answers and the misconceptions behind them.…”

“…Incorporating compelling examples of personal and practical applications of evolution that are relevant to students’ lives and basic social issues may increase their motivation to learn and retain evolutionary concepts (Scharmann, ; Hillis, ; Thanukos, 2010a; Nelson, ; Pobiner, ; Heady and Sinatra, ; Infanti and Wiles, ; Borgerding et al, ; Pobiner et al, ). Examples of evolution related to humans that focus on current topics and everyday experience, such as public and personal health and medicine (the origins of disease and genetic conditions, such as the common cold, sickle cell anemia, malaria, cancer, Huntington's chorea, and human immunodeficiency virus, disease transfer between species such as avian and swine flu, testing pharmaceuticals and skin care products on animals, vaccine development, antibiotic resistance, and the function and prevention of spread of viruses and pathogens); the evolution of high altitude adaptation and lactose tolerance; the evolution of human skin color; the evolution of running; the role of genes in human behavior; genetic engineering; agricultural practices, including the potentially catastrophic impact of a disease on strains of plants and animals that lack diversity, such as the potato famine; how animal hormones can influence biological systems and mechanisms in humans; global climate change, conservation, and species’ vulnerability to extinction; and using evolutionary analyses such as DNA fingerprinting in forensic science to detect crimes or catch criminals can highlight the relevance and applicability of evolutionary theory (McKeachie et al, ; Chuang, ; Scharmann, ; Evans, ; Sinatra et al, ; Varlese, 2008; Werth, ; Pugh et al, ; Thanukos, ; Wiley, ; Andrews et al, 2011; Miekle and Scott, ; Nelson, ; Pobiner, ; Southerland and Nadelson, ; Infanti and Wiles, ; Nadelson and Hardy, ; Pobiner et al, ; Rice et al, ) and the idea that humans are still evolving (Shields, ; Balter, ; Pritchard, ; Andrews et al, ; Pobiner et al, ). Examples that are relevant to students’ lives have been documented to increase students’ attitudes toward evolution, particularly with regard to their perceptions of its relevance (Infanti and Wiles, ; Pobiner et al, ).…”

Are Africans, Europeans, and Asians Different “Races”? A Guided-Inquiry Lab for Introducing Undergraduate Students to Genetic Diversity and Preparing Them to Study Natural Selection

“…Instructors will need to use this lab in conjunction with other learning activities (e.g., Kalinowski et al , 2006a; Andrews et al , 2011) to teach natural selection.…”