How Students View the Boundaries Between Their Science and Religious Education Concerning the Origins of Life and the Universe

Billingsley, Berry; Brock, Richard; Taber, Keith S.; Riga, Fran

doi:10.1002/sce.21213

Cited by 35 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…These include two distinct sets of problems. One derives from objections rooted in religion (e.g., Billingsley et al 2015;Basel et al 2014;Rissler et al 2014;Basel et al 2013;Yasri and Mancy 2012), while the other stems from the fact that many evolutionary concepts may seem, at least initially, counter-intuitive to students. An overview of these problems is given by Kampourakis (2014).…”

Section: Basic Problems In the Teaching Of Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

2017

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Modern evolutionary theory is both a central theory and an integrative framework of the life sciences. This is reflected in the common references to evolution in modern science education curricula and contexts. In fact, evolution is a core idea that is supposed to support biology learning by facilitating the organization of relevant knowledge. In addition, evolution can function as a pivotal link between concepts and highlight similarities in the complexity of biological concepts. However, empirical studies in many countries have for decades identified deficiencies in students' scientific understanding of evolution mainly focusing on natural selection. Clearly, there are major obstacles to learning natural selection, and we argue that to overcome them, it is essential to address explicitly the general abstract concepts that underlie the biological processes, e.g., randomness or probability. Hence, we propose a twodimensional framework for analyzing and structuring teaching of natural selection. The first-purely biological-dimension embraces the three main principles variation, heredity, and selection structured in nine key concepts that form the core idea of natural selection. The second dimension encompasses four so-called thresholds, i.e., general abstract and/or nonperceptual concepts: randomness, probability, spatial scales, and temporal scales. We claim that both of these dimensions must be continuously considered, in tandem, when teaching evolution in order to allow development of a meaningful understanding of the process. Further, we suggest that making the thresholds tangible with the aid of appropriate kinds of visualizations will facilitate grasping of the threshold concepts, and thus, help learners to overcome the difficulties in understanding the central theory of life. Sci & Educ (2017) 26:953-973 https://doi

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Section: Basic Problems In the Teaching Of Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

2017

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“…Fulljames et al, 1991;Shipman et al, 2002;Billingsley, 2004, Billingsley et al,. Fulljames et al, 1991;Shipman et al, 2002;Billingsley, 2004, Billingsley et al,.…”

Section: Relationships Between Science and Religion In Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our curriculum framework we reference this insight by saying that students should appreciate that some questions are more amenable to science than others and that scientism is not a necessary presupposition of science. Further, students' perceptions of the scholarly authority of each teacher is divided by firm subject boundaries, placing another pressure on schools' capacities to develop students' epistemic insight in relation to questions that bridge two or more areas of knowledge (Billingsley et al,.2016). Science teachers' resistance to discussing the power and limitations of science corresponds to a tendency to narrow the subject boundary in order to focus on building and assessing familiarity with established scientific ideas (Billingsley et al, 2010;Abrahams, 2017).…”

Section: Relationships Between Science and Religion In Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the findings of that research was that some students had not considered the possibility that science and religion interact at all until prompted to do so during the research (Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, , 2016. The basis for this concern derives from interview studies with teachers and students in secondary schools.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, : 1273 There were also students who said that they would hold back a question in a science lesson if they felt it would be 'off-topic' or potentially religiously sensitive (Billingsley et al, 2013(Billingsley et al, , 2016. .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Primary school students’ perspectives on questions that bridge science and religion: Findings from a survey study in England

Billingsley

Abedin

Nassaji

2019

British Educational Res J

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This article describes the development of a questionnaire to discover primary school students' perceptions of science, religion and the relationships between them on a range of topics that are known as Big Questions. The questionnaire was administered in 16 primary schools in England with over 750 students aged 10-11. The findings indicate that students in this age group have begun to consider how science and religion relate and that while there is a diversity of positions, a significant proportion perceived science and religion to conflict. Analysis of responses also indicated that primary school students' epistemic insight was limited in relation to their understanding of the nature of science and, in particular, the idea that science has limitations. The basis and potential consequences of such views are considered and recommendations for teaching practice are presented, together with ideas for future research. It is anticipated that the study will inform teachers and curriculum planners developing approaches and guidance materials in science and religious education.

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Scientism, creationism or category error? A cross‐age survey of secondary school students’ perceptions of the relationships between science and religion

Billingsley

Taber

Nassaji

2020

The Curriculum Journal

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We report on a survey of 1717 students at two different points of their secondary school education. This survey is designed to discover their reasoning about scientific and religious accounts of the origins of the universe and life. The study was motivated by a concern, based on previous research, that factors such as the compartmentalised curriculum may limit students’ progression in interdisciplinary reasoning and their capacities to appreciate why science and religion are not necessarily incompatible. To investigate these matters, we gathered data in seven secondary schools in England. The findings indicated that a significant proportion of students are working with a poor understanding of the limits of science and of the range of scholarly positions on the nature of religious explanation. The implications of the results for educational theory and practice are discussed.

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How Students View the Boundaries Between Their Science and Religious Education Concerning the Origins of Life and the Universe

Cited by 35 publications

References 59 publications

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

Primary school students’ perspectives on questions that bridge science and religion: Findings from a survey study in England

Scientism, creationism or category error? A cross‐age survey of secondary school students’ perceptions of the relationships between science and religion

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