University Evolution Education: The Effect of Evolution Instruction on Biology Majors’ Content Knowledge, Attitude Toward Evolution, and Theistic Position

Abstract

Issues regarding understanding of evolution and resistance to evolution education in the United States are of key importance to biology educators at all levels. While research has measured student views toward evolution at single points in time, few studies have been published investigating whether views of college seniors are any different than first-year students in the same degree program. Additionally, students choosing to major in biological sciences have largely been overlooked, as if their acceptance of evolution is assumed. This study investigated the understanding of evolution and attitude toward evolution held by students majoring in biological science during their first and fourth years in a public research university. Participants included students in a firstyear introductory biology course intended for biological science majors and graduating seniors earning degrees in either biology or genetics. The portion of the survey reported here consisted of quantitative measures of students' understanding of core concepts of evolution and their attitude toward evolution. The results indicate that students' understanding of particular evolutionary concepts is significantly higher among seniors, but their attitude toward evolution is only slightly improved compared to their firstyear student peers. When comparing first-year students and seniors, students' theistic position was not significantly different.

Teleological reasoning, not acceptance of evolution, impacts students’ ability to learn natural selection

“…While there seems to be a positive relationship between the number of college biology courses taken and an understanding of evolution (Nadelson and Southerland 2009;Rice et al 2011), the influence of one or two semesters of evolution instruction is less clear. Short and Hawley (2015) found that student misconceptions of evolution decreased over a semester in an evolutionary psychology class; however, the same study also found that student misconceptions about evolution increased over a semester in an introductory biology class.…”

Evolutionary thinking among biology students in a third world country

“…The score proportion did not differ according to level (F = 0.09, df = 1, P = 0.755) or the interaction term (geo-economic*level: F = 0.49, df = 2, P = 0.61). Rice et al 2011). This indicates that exposure to subjects with evolutionary tenor has no effect in students' opinions during the graduate course.…”

“…For instance, acceptance of evolution may be negatively related to social dysfunction indexes (Paul 2009) and income inequality (Rees 2009), and positively related to logical thinking skills (Lawson and Weser 1990;Lawson and Worsnop 1992). However, evolutionary thinking is most commonly positively related to education and scientific literacy (Miller et al 2006;Rice et al 2011;Sherkat 2011;Wiles and Alters 2011;Nadelson 2012, 2013;Lloyd-Strovas and Bernal 2012) and negatively to religiosity (Lawson and Worsnop 1992;Sinclair et al 1997;Larson and Witham 1998;Miller et al 2006;Sherkat 2011;Nadelson 2012, 2013;Clément 2015), suggesting that religiosity drives resistance to evolution (Coyne 2012).…”

Teaching Practices and Views of Evolution Instructors at Post-Secondary Institutions

“…Biology majors can encounter instruction on evolution throughout their entire degree program while non-science majors are more likely to encounter it only in introductory biology classes that may be used to fulfill general education science requirements. Rice et al (2010) found that senior biology majors were more likely to accept evolutionary theory than introductory biology students. Whether this is due to selective retention of students with higher acceptance or an effect of their studies is unknown.…”

“…The survey consisted of 30 questions-one adapted from a previous survey (Rice et al 2010)-in four topic areas (see below) and was targeted at instructors of college courses where evolution was either the only or a primary topic. Before distribution, questions were reviewed by two evolution education researchers, a national advocate of evolution education and a survey design specialist.…”