Teaching the theory of evolution in social, intellectual, and pedagogical context

Anderson, Ronald D.

doi:10.1002/sce.20204

Cited by 55 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…In such socio-cultural context, contextualizing the teaching of evolution seems to be an essential step. Thus, for a complete and authentic education, the teaching of the theory of evolution must take place in a pedagogical, intellectual, and also a social context (Anderson 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming the Effect of the Socio-cultural Context: Impact of Teaching Evolution in Tunisia

2009

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In Tunisia, even though it is an Arab-Muslim country, the teaching of evolution is not forbidden. Nevertheless, the Muslim perspective makes learning about the biological basis of evolution difficult because of the harmony that exists between religion and science. Tunisian students have a mixed misconception: They explain the diversity of life as both a result of God's works and a result of evolutionary processes at the same time. This paper presents the external evaluation that assesses the impact of an approach to teaching evolution designed to help students distinguish between theological and biological (scientific) explanations. The comparative analysis between the outcomes of the pre-and post-teaching interviews shows some success in helping students to distinguish between the two types of arguments and to develop better understanding of evolution as scientific knowledge.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming the Effect of the Socio-cultural Context: Impact of Teaching Evolution in Tunisia

2009

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“…Fourthly, evolution has been recognised as an abstract and difficult concept to teach (Bishop and Anderson 1990), and the pedagogical content knowledge of many South African teachers for teaching the topic, particularly how to manage the emotional arguments arising from strongly held religious beliefs, appears inadequate (Molefe 2013). It is important to know, for example, that introducing argumentation to teach the topic of evolution generates conflict for many religious students, and that students' concerns can be avoided or reduced using 'independence' or 'dialogue' strategies (Anderson 2007) when teaching the topic. Teachers' lack of confidence about teaching evolution has been exacerbated by the constant curriculum changes at the FET level, where the third version of the Life Sciences curriculum statement within six years was fully implemented by December 2014.…”

Section: Problems Motivating the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

The possible influence of curriculum statements and textbooks on misconceptions: The case of evolution

Sanders¹,

Makotsa²

2016

Educ. as change.

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Curriculum statements and textbooks are considered to be vital support tools for teachers, particularly during times of curriculum innovation. A recent change in South Africa was the controversial inclusion of evolution in the school curriculum, raising serious concerns amongst biology teachers regarding the adequacy of their content and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the topic. Widespread 'misconceptions' about evolution make teaching this topic difficult for biology teachers worldwide. Identifying the sources of errors is an essential step needed before addressing them. This study explored curriculum support materials as a possible source of misconceptions, using content analysis of the South African school Natural Sciences curriculum statement and six Grade 7-9 Natural Sciences textbooks from two different publishers, and investigated 'curriculum slippages' between the 'formal' and 'perceived' curricula. The aim was to determine the nature and extent of unscientific ideas about evolution, and 217 Sanders and MakotsaCurriculum materials as a source of misconceptions to see how authors dealt with potential misconceptions. Errors were found in the curriculum statement and in the textbooks, where they escalated in frequency. Latent problems associated with ambiguous wording of statements posed further problems. Although this paper uses evolution as an example, lessons learned about curriculum materials as a possible influence on misconceptions are applicable to other subjects.Keywords: curriculum support materials, textbooks, misconceptions, curriculum slippages, evolution, natural selectionIn times of curriculum innovation textbooks become important props for teachers, particularly if they are inadequately prepared to implement new curriculum content. However, an important assumption is that such support materials will be scientifically accurate. If they contain errors, teachers with poor content knowledge may not be in a position to recognise mistakes, which are thus likely to be transmitted to pupils. This paper focuses on an investigation of curriculum statements and textbooks as a possible source of misconceptions, as well as how the textbooks identified and addressed common misconceptions. We have used the umbrella term 'misconceptions' for this paper in the commonly understood everyday sense, referring to incorrect ideas, as this is how most teachers and the public are likely to understand the term. Because document analysis was used for this study it was not possible to discriminate between ideas which have been mentally constructed by the document authors (the correct technical meaning of 'misconceptions') and 'errors', which have been acquired from some outside source. THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDYThe inclusion of evolution in the South African school curriculumThe radical revision of the South African school curriculum, progressively implemented by the newly elected government's education department between 1998 and 2008, was characterised by several changes, one of which was a modernisi...

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“…The concept of worldview has received much attention in the science education literature as a topic of analysis, discussion and empirical research (see Anderson, 2007;Cobern, 1991;Hokayem and BouJaoude, 2008;Lawrenz and Gray, 1995;Reiss, 2009). Worldviews vary from group to group according to each group"s perceptions of reality.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives For the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary School Learners’ Response to the Teaching of Evolution in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Mpeta

Villiers

Fraser

2014

Journal of Biological Education

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Teaching the theory of evolution in social, intellectual, and pedagogical context

Cited by 55 publications

References 16 publications

Overcoming the Effect of the Socio-cultural Context: Impact of Teaching Evolution in Tunisia

Overcoming the Effect of the Socio-cultural Context: Impact of Teaching Evolution in Tunisia

The possible influence of curriculum statements and textbooks on misconceptions: The case of evolution

Secondary School Learners’ Response to the Teaching of Evolution in Limpopo Province, South Africa

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