Influence of Sociocultural Factors and Acceptance of Creationism in the Comprehension of Evolutionary Biology in Freshman Brazilian Students

Abstract

The creationist movements in Brazil, although considered weak, are on the increase. The Brazilian legislation neither imposes any objection in teaching evolution nor obliges the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution in science classes. Furthermore, it allows the optional teaching of religion at schools. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge regarding biological evolution in freshman students from a Brazilian university. Such knowledge was related to sociocultural factors such as their parental education level, the type of high school the student graduated from (private or public school), their philosophical/religious position as well as the acceptance of creationism as an alternative to evolution. Among those factors, the latter two showed significant differences, in which the higher averages belonged both to the atheistic students and to those who do not accept creationism as an alternative to evolution.

Effect of Academic Degree and Discipline on Religious Beliefs and Evolution Acceptance: Survey at a Chilean University

“…In other words, there seems to be a bias toward being less religious for people who decide to study biology and physics, and this bias has been reported elsewhere (Penteado et al. ). This observed bias could help to explain why, besides the cosmological and evolutionary emphasis of physics and biology, respectively, with higher education UACh physicists and biologists tend to be less religious.…”

“…Most studies of the acceptance of evolution in an academic environment have focused on surveying people with the same academic degree (Dagher and BouJaoude ; Jensen et al. ; Kampourakis and Zogza ; Gregory and Ellis ; Kim and Nehm ; Pazza, Penteado, and Kavalco ; Dias, Willemart, and Marques ; Penteado, Kavalco, and Pazza ). Stirrat and Cornwell () have shown that among members of the Royal Society of London, biologists are more likely to be atheists/agnostics compared to physicists, who are more likely to have a religious affiliation.…”

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

“…A study of elementary and secondary science teachers in Turkey, where the majority of the population is Muslim, found that those with a stronger understanding of the nature of science were more likely to both accept evolution and believe it is necessary to teach in evolution in their classrooms (Tekkaya et al, ). Anti‐evolution or intelligent design efforts relating to schools are on the rise in Northern Ireland (McCrory and Murphy, ), the United Kingdom (Williams, ), Poland (Borczyk, ), and other areas of Europe (Brem and Sinatra, ) as well as New Zealand (Campbell and Otrel‐Cass, ) and Brazil (Penteado et al, ).…”

“…Yet a recent study of the acceptance of evolution among biology students in the southeastern US found that the degree of religiosity had a greater impact on students’ acceptance of evolution than their education—as religiosity increases, evolution acceptance precipitously declines (Rissler et al, ). A study of college freshmen in Brazil found that knowledge of evolution was correlated with sociocultural factors, particularly their religious or philosophical position and whether they accept creationism as an alternative to evolution (Penteado et al, ) and a study of US high school students found that the strength of religious commitment was correlated with the initial level and change in acceptance of evolution (Lawson and Worsnop, ).…”

Brazilian Undergraduate Students’ Conceptions on the Origins of Human Social Behavior: Implications for Teaching Evolution

“…The majority of Brazilians are Catholic and their religious commitments do not necessarily exclude general evolutionary explanations (Penteado et al 2012). …”