Teaching Darwinian Evolution: Learning from Religious Education

Abstract

This article examines what science education might be able to learn from phenomenological religious education's attempts to teach classes where students hold a plurality of religious beliefs. Recent statements as to how best to accomplish the central pedagogical concept of 'learning from religion' as a vehicle for human transformation are explored, and then used to appraise the historical research into how Charles Darwin's responses to religious ideas influenced and were influenced by his scientific work. The issues identified as crucial for science educators to be aware of when teaching students Darwinian evolution are then outlined and, finally, suggestions are made to enable individual students to examine how their personal religious beliefs might interact with their growing understanding of Darwin's evolutionary approach.

Making the Climate a Part of the Human World

“…Therefore, an audience can learn more easily or more rapidly from personal or cultural experience than from numerical or statistical evidence, which require greater interpretative skills and effort (McCaffery and Buhr 2008;Weber 2010). For example, if embracing scientific evidence has implications for behavior and policy choices, some audiences may reasonably choose to reject either the evidence or the authority of the source in favor of past cultural or religious knowledge (Stolberg 2010).…”

“…The historical and religious context is also missing from the pedagogical philosophy and the materials of the emerging "climate literacy" movement (e.g., NOAA 2009) Second, educators and scientists should take lessons from approaches used in the teaching of evolution, another subject in which science can appear to conflict with preexisting beliefs. Pedagogical research on evolution finds that providing people with opportunities to evaluate how their culture or beliefs affect their willingness to accept scientific evidence is more effective than attempting to separate scientific views from religious or cultural views (Stolberg 2010). One approach is to hold interactive dialogues or forums, in which the audience, as well as the climate experts, has the opportunity to discuss and voice preexisting doubts about human influence on the climate.…”