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Evolution's Role In School
Evolution's Role In School
Although non-scientific ideas have attempted to challenge the idea that evolution has a place in science courses, there is research on evolution's importance in foundational science courses, such as biology. Literature on evolutionary theory has described its role in the discipline of biology. Specifically scientists describe the “broad explanatory power,” that allows evolutionary theory to produce biological questions and act as an “underlying framework” of biology (Rutledge & Mitchell, 2002). Understanding evolution's position in the discipline of biology in this way suggests its importance in the teaching of biology.
Research on high school biology teachers' knowledge, structure, acceptance, and teaching of evolution showed that biology curriculum is lacking in the topic of evolution. Rutledge and Mitchells (2002) research referenced the concept that students' knowledge structures come close to their teachers. The study found that educators who did not accept evolution created concept maps that represented evolution as being of “low scientific status.” The fact that evolution is a “theory” does not indicate that it is not scientifically supported, rather the theory of evolution is continually backed by scientific evidence. The findings of this research suggest that improved teachers' academic background in evolution is needed in order to increase evolutionary biology education (Rutledge & Mitchell, 2002). As Blanchard (2015) states, “ So if someone asks, ‘Do you believe in evolution,’ they are framing it wrong. That's like asking, ‘Do you believe in blue?’” This means that evolution is not up for debate, it is a theory in that we are continually learning more about it but there is scientific proof that evolution occurs. There are real life examples of evolution, such as dogs. We can trace the lineage of dogs, beginning with wolves to the current breeds of dogs in which breeders select desirable traits and create different populations. Breading is an example of humans using the mechanism of evolution (Blanchard, 2015). Scientific literature emphasizes the importance of evolution as a foundational concept in biology, yet the curriculum is not reflecting this, due to the contradictory forces that attempt to come up against the evolutionary theory.
Evolution's Role In School
Evolution's Role In School
More recent research indicates that there are decreases in creationist teachings as a justifiable substitute for evolutionary biology. In 2010 the Next Generation Science Standards were redeveloped and adopted by 20 states, in the process evolution was accredited as “a central role in biology and life science education.” This redevelopment is in line with the differences in statistics surrounding the teaching of evolution in high school biology between 2007 and 2019. Pulitzer et al. (2020) found a 60% increase in the mean number of class hours spent on human evolution. In addition the study found that teachers who reported more college coursework centered on evolution “was positively correlated with reporting teaching evolution as settled science and negatively associated with reporting avoidance.” (Pulitzer et al., 2020) This new data shows that by changing curriculum standards at multiple levels of education, the significance of teaching evolution as a scientific theory and a foundation in biology is realized.
This challenge between scientific importance and public influence is emphasized in Nickels et al. (1996) attempt to improve biology curriculum by emphasizing both evolution and the nature of science. Their approach to restructuring high school biology is described by four themes.
Theme One: “science is both inescapably rooted in inherent uncertainty and yet capable of producing highly reliable knowledge”
Theme Two: “evolution can best be understood when seen as an example of modern scientific thinking”
Theme Three: “ human evolution is one of the best case studies of modern evolutionary knowledge”
Theme Four: “non-dogmatic pedagogies are essential in teaching science, both because they increase learning and
because they help students to acquire the critical thinking skills central to science and to its comprehension”
This form of potential high school biology courses describes how evolutionary theory fits into the curriculum of biology. Key in Nickels et al. (1996) teaching of biology is the understanding of the unfixed nature of science, that it is a method of critical thinking about the information presented to students. According to the study mentioned above, educating students about modern evolutionary thinking allows them to place themselves in the field of science. The structure of this suggested method of teaching provides a solution to the lack of evolutionary teaching in biology and suggests that teaching evolution improves students' understanding of the nature of science. Research is clear that there is a clear connection between evolution and the understanding of biology, as well as the nature of science, indicating that evolution is necessary for a scientific education. Evolutionary biology contributes to our understanding of ourselves and the broad field of scientific studies.
Teaching Alternative Ideas to Evolution
Teaching Alternative Ideas to Evolution
Evolution has developed in the classroom over the last 12 years dramatically. Nationwide, science classrooms are filled with students being taught two “equal” but different theories of how man kind specifically has evolved. In previous generations, the theory of creationism has been taught on par with evolution theory, in many cases weighted unfairly in classrooms. However, law makers and school boards across the U.S. have cracked down on the influential learning of creationism in science classes due to the lack of facts presented in comparison to evolution.
Teachers of the past would focus on creationism rather than scientific authority which in most cases should be taken more seriously in the classroom. Years of this generational teaching is evident in the amount of teachers who still believe and teach in this manner, which may lead to this percentage rising as more time goes by. (Berkman 2020)
Spanning across 12 years a survey was conducted by science authors asking teachers whether they believed in the scientific evolutionary theory. This seems like a strange question to be asking a teaching professional who is influencing hundreds of children every year. However when asking a percentage of teachers in different districts whether or not evolution was fact “the percentage of teachers who strongly agree has shot up from 30% to 47%”(Berkman 2020). This is good news although not even half of teachers believe science fact over religious or personal bias. This bias influence is seen as detrimental to learning to some individuals who have recently changed policy in order to raise this number over a margin it has never gone before of over 70%.
Throughout the years, laws where teachers are subject to mandatory training and development courses as well as higher standards for qualified teachers has dramatically increased the facts of evolution being taught in the classroom at the highschool and earlier levels. The end goal however is for teachers to leave opinionated thinking up to the student and to teach the subject matter that is entirly fact.
References
Berkman, M.B., & Pacheco, J.S. (2020) “Teaching Evolution in U.S. Public Schools: a
Continuing Challenge.” Evolution, BioMed Central. evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-020-00126-8#citeas.mj
Nickels, M.K., Nelson, C.E., & Beard, J. (1996). Better Biology Teaching by Emphasizing
Evolution & the Nature of Science. The American Biology Teacher, 58(6), 332-336. https://doi.org/10.2307/4450173
Plutzer, E., Branch, G. & Reid, A. (2020). Teaching evolution in U.S. public schools: a
continuing challenge. Evo Edu Outreach 13, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-020-00126-8
Rutledge, M., & Mitchell, M. (2002). High School Biology Teachers’ Knowledge Structure,
Acceptance & Teaching of Evolution. The American Biology Teacher, 64(1), 21-28. https://doi.org/10.2307/4451231
Blanchard, K. (2015, January 8). Why you should stop believing in evolution. The Week. https://theweek.com/articles/444891/why-should-stop-believing-evolution
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