No Missing Link: Knowledge Predicts Acceptance of Evolution in the United States

Weisberg, Deena Skolnick; Landrum, Asheley R.; Metz, S. Emlen; Weisberg, M. K.

doi:10.1093/biosci/bix161

Cited by 66 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Ha et al (2012) also looked at the correlation between scores on the ORI and the CINS, and report Cronbach's alpha for undergraduates in preservice biology. Weisberg et al (2018) administered the CINS to a sample from the general public and reported Cronbach's alpha. Finally, Pope et al (2017) also report Cronbach's alpha and interrater reliability for biology majors in the northeast.…”

Section: Secondary Uses Of Focal Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To further complicate its teaching and learning, the various relationships between acceptance and understanding of evolution and the nature of science (Smith 2010a;Smith and Siegel 2004), along with religiosity and the use of teleological reasoning (Allmon 2011;Shtulman 2006), impact student understanding and potentially their ability to successfully integrate evolutionary concepts into their understanding of the biological world (Sinatra et al 2003;Smith 2010b). In a recent study of the general public, Weisberg et al (2018) found that knowledge of evolution predicted level of acceptance, possibly suggesting student views may be amenable to change. However, a different study suggests teleological reasoning and not acceptance of evolution influences understanding of natural selection (Barnes et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Applying measurement standards to evolution education assessment instruments

et al. 2019

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Over the past 25 years a number of instruments have been published that attempt to measure understanding and acceptance of evolution. Science educators have been administering these instruments and reporting results, however, it is not clear these instruments are being used appropriately. The goal of this paper is to review these instruments, noting the original criteria and population for which evidence of validity and reliability was assessed, and to survey other publications that report their use, examining each for evidence of validity and reliability with subsequent populations. Our hope is that such a comprehensive review will engage researchers and practitioners in a careful examination of how they intend to use a particular instrument and whether it can provide an accurate and meaningful assessment of the desired outcomes. We encourage the community to administer evolution education assessments with the consideration of an instrument's measurement support and past use with similar populations. We also encourage researchers to add additional evidence of validity and reliability for these instruments, especially if modifications have been made to the instrument or if its use has been extended to new populations.

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Section: Secondary Uses Of Focal Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying measurement standards to evolution education assessment instruments

et al. 2019

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“…In one study, once demographic characteristics including religion and political ideology were controlled for, educational attainment was not a factor in evolution rejection (Miller et al, 2006;Hill, 2014). However, four recent and robust studies have suggested a well-supported positive relationship between knowledge and acceptance (e.g., Rissler et al, 2014;Glaze et al, 2015;Dunk et al, 2017;Weisberg et al, 2018).…”

Section: Teaching That Evolution Rejection Is a Product Of Ignorancementioning

confidence: 99%

Using a Reconciliation Module Leads to Large Gains in Evolution Acceptance

Lindsay¹,

Arok²,

Bybee³

et al. 2019

LSE

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Too many students reject the theory of evolution because they view it as incompatible with their religious beliefs. Some have argued that abandoning religious belief is the only way to help religious individuals accept evolution. Conversely, our data support that highlighting faith/evolution compatibility is an effective means to increase student acceptance. We surveyed students enrolled in entry-level biology courses at four religiously affiliated institutions. At each university, teachers gave students a presentation that demonstrated potential compatibility between evolution and faith within the teachings of each university’s respective religious affiliation. Students were asked to evaluate their own beliefs about evolution both before and after this instruction. After instruction at each university, students showed significant gains in evolution acceptance without abandoning their religious beliefs. These results demonstrate that giving religious students the opportunity to reconcile their religious beliefs with the theory of evolution under the influence of intentional instruction on the compatibility of belief and evolution can lead to increased evolution acceptance among religious students.

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“…Earlier research in the field searched for a relationship between evolution acceptance and understanding but found contradictory results 1,10-13 . However, more recent studies employing multifactorial models have shown an independent significant association between evolution knowledge and acceptance when controlling for other variables [6][7][8]14 , although the strength of this association varies between studies. Other recent work 15 suggests that in certain groups of UK school students, where there is a relatively low level of rejection of evolution, measures of knowledge may be more important than the factors of understanding the nature of science or of religiosity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%