Neutral theory and beyond: A systematic review of molecular evolution education.

Molecular evolution-including the neutral theory of molecular evolution-is a major sub-discipline of evolution and is widely taught in undergraduate evolution courses. However, despite its ubiquity, there have not been any previous attempts to compile and review the molecular evolution education literature. Here, we draw upon the framework proposed in a past literature review examining the broader evolution education landscape to conduct a literature review of papers related to molecular evolution education, classifying the contributions of such papers to evolution pedagogy as well as evolution education research. We find that there remains very limited coverage of molecular evolution in the education literature, with existing papers focusing primarily on providing new instructional modules and strategies for teaching molecular evolution. Our work suggests several areas of critical need as well as opportunities to advance evolution education and evolution education research, including compiling instructional goals for the sub-discipline, developing validated assessments, and investigating student thinking related to molecular evolution. We conclude by providing general strategies, advice, and a novel curricular activity for teaching molecular evolution and the neutral theory of molecular evolution.

Reconsidering the goals of evolution education: defining evolution and evolutionary literacy.

In this paper, I argue that for both theoretical and practical purposes, it is useful for science education to clearly distinguish between science content knowledge and skills on the one hand, and the competencies related to their application in everyday life. This can be based on a distinction made by Douglas Roberts between two visions of literacy, and it can be effectively reconceptualized as the distinction between two types of literacy relevant to science: Science literacy, which is literacy relevant to the processes and products of science, related to the content of science taught in classrooms (literacy about issues within science); and Scientific literacy, which is literacy relevant to questions that students may encounter as citizens and to the socio-ethical implications of scientific knowledge (literacy about the implications of science for society). Based on this, we can in turn distinguish between two types of literacy related to evolution: Evolution literacy, which is literacy relevant to the evolution content taught in classrooms; and Evolutionary literacy, which is literacy relevant to questions that students may encounter as citizens and to the socio-ethical implications of scientific knowledge. In this article I argue that whereas a lot of attention has been given to evolution literacy as a learning goal, there has been less reflection and discussion about evolutionary literacy-and it is exactly the distinction between these two types of literacy that helps one realize this. Teaching for evolutionary literacy requires specific skills from teachers, which go beyond their ability to teach concepts and explanations. My aim is to initiate a discussion about how to set evolutionary literacy as a learning objective at schools along evolution literacy. A key issue in such a case is how we could prepare teachers who would be capable, and confident, to address issues going beyond the typical science content, and which are often related to worldviews, in the classroom.

Popular media and the bombardment of evolution misconceptions.

Background: Many students enter science classrooms with misconceptions about scientific principles. One of the most perceived controversial scientific principle for students is evolution. Students struggle to learn and accept evolution due to the many misconceptions students have interacted with before they enter a biology class. Evolution misconceptions come from many sources, such as religious beliefs, textbooks, and even unprepared educators. However, with students spending on average over seven hours a day viewing popular media, it is crucial to investigate further the accuracy of the portrayals of evolution in popular media. Results: We gathered data on the sources students saw evolution portrayed in popular media and determined what misconceptions were present in these popular media references. We found that 96% of the popular media references mentioned by students in our study inaccurately depicted evolution. The two most common misconceptions we observed in popular media were that evolution was depicted as a linear process and that individual organisms evolve instead of populations. Conclusion: Popular media does a poor job depicting evolution, which may be why many students are hesitant to learn evolution and overcome misconceptions. We suggest that these incorrect portrayals of evolution may provide an engaging way to teach correct evolutionary principles in the classroom.

Analyzing pre-service biology teachers' intention to teach evolution using the theory of planned behavior.

Background: Even though evolution is the overarching principle that connects all areas of biology, a significant proportion of pre-service teachers do not intend to teach evolution, minimize the teaching of evolution, or teach alternative ideas in biology classes. To prevent adverse teaching practices and promote effective pre-service teacher education, we aimed to identify and analyze variables that foster or hinder their behavioral intentions to teach evolution. Method: We adopted a behavioral psychology research perspective and developed a research model based on the theory of planned behavior to examine behavioral intentions for teaching evolution in biology classrooms. We extended the model with additional variables that have been delineated by teacher education research as essential determinants for the behavioral intention to teach evolution. We proposed several hypotheses suggesting that the attitude toward teaching evolution, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal religious faith, perceived usefulness, and knowledge about evolution determine a person's behavioral intention. We conducted a quantitative cross-sectional study in teacher education to test the hypotheses and surveyed N = 339 pre-service biology teachers using an online questionnaire. We analyzed the data using a two-stage structural equation model. Results: We were able to confirm all proposed hypotheses. The most important results revealed that pre-service teachers' knowledge about and perceived usefulness of evolution are only moderately pronounced. Moreover, the subjective norm is a predictor not only of behavioral intention but also of the attitude toward teaching evolution. The variable of perceived behavior control partly moderates the relationship between knowledge about evolution and behavioral intention. Additionally, perceived usefulness is an important and marginally stronger predictor of a person's attitude than personal religious faith. Conclusion: The extended model of the theory of planned behavior has highlighted the need for educational programs to increase knowledge about and the perceived usefulness of evolution even stronger. The findings delineated the effects of essential determinants on behavioral intentions and provided information about the necessary levers of teacher education. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12052-022-00175-1.

A comparison study of human examples vs. non-human examples in an evolution lesson leads to differential impacts on student learning experiences in an introductory biology course.

BACKGROUND: Instructors can teach evolution using any number of species contexts. However, not all species contexts are equal, and taxa choice can alter both cognitive and affective elements of learning. This is particularly true when teaching evolution using human examples, a promising method for evolution instruction that nevertheless comes with unique challenges. In this study, we tested how an evolution lesson focused on a human example may impact students' engagement, perceived content relevance, learning gains, and level of discomfort, when compared to the same lesson using a non-human mammal example. We use this isomorphic lesson and a pre-post study design administered in a split-section introductory biology classroom to isolate the importance of the species context. RESULTS: For two of the four measurements of interest, the effect of using human examples could not be understood without accounting for student background. For learning gains, students with greater pre-class content knowledge benefited more from the human examples, while those with low levels of knowledge benefited from the non-human example. For perceived relevance, students who were more accepting of human evolution indicated greater content relevance from the human example. Regardless of condition, students with lower evolution acceptance reported greater levels of discomfort with the lesson. CONCLUSIONS: Our results illustrate the complexities of using human examples to teach evolution. While these examples were beneficial for many students, they resulted in worse outcomes for students that were less accepting of evolution and those who entered the course with less content knowledge. These findings demonstrate the need to consider diverse student backgrounds when establishing best practices for using human examples to teach evolution. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12052-021-00148-w.

Following Darwin's footsteps: Evaluating the impact of an activity designed for elementary school students to link historically important evolution key concepts on their understanding of natural selection.

While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be explored from the initial years of schooling, little information is available on effective resources to enhance elementary school students' level of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For the present study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational activity planned for fourth graders (9 to 10 years old) to explore concepts and conceptual fields that were historically important for the discovery of natural selection. Observation field notes and students' productions were used to analyze how the students explored the proposed activity. Additionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the evaluation criteria, and the scoring process was applied in two fourth-grade classes (N = 44) to estimate elementary school students' LUENS before and after engaging in the activity. Our results show that our activity allowed students to link the key concepts, resulting in a significant increase of their understanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional activities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to further support students' learning about the concept of differential reproduction.

Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE).

Evolution is a key concept of biology, fundamental to understand the world and address important societal problems, but research studies show that it is still not widely understood and accepted. Several factors are known to influence evolution acceptance and understanding, but little information is available regarding the impacts of the curriculum on these aspects. Very few curricula have been examined to assess the coverage of biological evolution. The available studies do not allow comparative analyses, due to the different methodologies employed by the authors. However, such an analysis would be useful for research purposes and for the development of appropriate educational policies to address the problem of a lack of evolution acceptance in some countries. In this paper we describe the steps through which we developed a valid and reliable instrument for curricula analysis known as FACE: "Framework to Assess the Coverage of biological Evolution by school curricula." This framework was developed based on the "Understanding Evolution Conceptual Framework" (UECF). After an initial pilot study, our framework was reformulated based on identified issues and experts' opinions. To generate validity and reliability evidence in support of the framework, it was applied to four European countries' curricula. For each country, a team of a minimum of two national and two foreign coders worked independently to assess the curriculum using this framework for content analysis. Reliability evidence was estimated using Krippendorf's alpha and resulted in appropriate values for coding the examined curricula. Some issues that coders faced during the analysis were discussed and, to ensure better reliability for future researchers, additional guidelines and one extra category were included in the framework. The final version of the framework includes six categories and 34 subcategories. FACE is a useful tool for the analysis and the comparison of curricula and school textbooks regarding the coverage of evolution, and such results can guide curricula development.

Students' "teleological misconceptions" in evolution education: why the underlying design stance, not teleology per se, is the problem.

Teleology, explaining the existence of a feature on the basis of what it does, is usually considered as an obstacle or misconception in evolution education. Researchers often use the adjective "teleological" to refer to students' misconceptions about purpose and design in nature. However, this can be misleading. In this essay, I explain that teleology is an inherent feature of explanations based on natural selection and that, therefore, teleological explanations are not inherently wrong. The problem we might rather address in evolution education is not teleology per se but the underlying "design stance". With this I do not refer to creationism/intelligent design, and to the inference to a creator from the observation of the apparent design in nature (often described as the argument from design). Rather, the design stance refers to the intuitive perception of design in nature in the first place, which seems to be prevalent and independent from religiosity in young ages. What matters in evolution education is not whether an explanation is teleological but rather the underlying consequence etiology: whether a trait whose presence is explained in teleological terms exists because of its selection for its positive consequences for its bearers, or because it was intentionally designed, or simply needed, for this purpose. In the former case, the respective teleological explanation is scientifically legitimate, whereas in the latter case it is not. What then should be investigated in evolution education is not whether students provide teleological explanations, but which consequence etiologies these explanations rely upon. Addressing the design stance underlying students' teleological explanations could be a main aim of evolution education.

Accepting, understanding, teaching, and learning (human) evolution: Obstacles and opportunities.

Questions about our origin as a species are universal and compelling. Evolution-and in particular human evolution-is a subject that generates intense interest across the world, evidenced by the fact that fossil and DNA discoveries grace the covers of major science journals and magazines as well as other popular print and online media. However, virtually all national polls indicate that the majority of Americans strongly reject biological evolution as a fact-based, well-tested, and robust understanding of the history of life. In the popular mind, no topic in all of science is more contentious or polarizing than evolution and media sources often only serve to magnify this polarization by covering challenges to the teaching of evolution. In the realm of teaching, debates about evolution have shaped textbooks, curricula, standards, and policy. Challenges to accepting and understanding evolution include mistrust and denial of science, cognitive obstacles and misconceptions, language and terminology, and a religious worldview, among others. Teachers, who are on the front lines of these challenges, must be armed with the tools and techniques to teach evolution in formal education settings across grades K-16 in a straightforward, thorough, and sensitive way. Despite the potentially controversial topic of human evolution, growing research is demonstrating that a pedagogical focus on human examples is an effective and engaging way to teach core concepts of evolutionary biology.

Adaptations: Using Darwin's Origin to teach biology and writing.

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is at once familiar and unfamiliar. Everyone knows that the Origin introduced the world to the idea of evolution by natural selection, but few of us have actually read it. We suggest that it is worth taking the time not only to read what Darwin had to say, but also to use the Origin to teach both biology and writing. It provides scientific lessons in areas beyond evolutionary biology, such as ecology and biogeography. In addition, it provides valuable rhetorical lessons-how to construct an argument, write persuasively, make use of evidence, know your audience, and anticipate counterarguments. We have been using the Origin in various classes for several years, introducing new generations to Darwin, in his own words.