Representing evolution in science education

Representing evolution in science education: The challenge of teaching about natural selection

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Abstract:

This chapter considers the difficulties of effectively teaching about evolution – a topic that cannot be sensibly omitted from any authentic science or biology curriculum. There are a number of features of natural selection that make teaching this topic challenging for teachers. Some of these features are similar to problems in teaching other 'difficult' science topics and relate to the intellectual challenge students face in learning about abstract and counterintuitive ideas. Learning about evolution by natural selection is problematic because it only fully makes sense once a range of different ideas can be coordinated into a complex scheme. The notion may seem counterintuitive to many learners because they lack direct experience of the time scales over which natural selection occurs, and their experience of the world generally reflects discrete and quite distinct species. Additionally, there are particular challenges in teaching evolution in contexts where community norms are to actively deny the science and oppose its teaching in schools and colleges. All teachers of evolutionary theory will face the first set of challenges, but for those working in particular countries or areas, there will be the additional problem of being asked to teach something that some students find morally objectionable.

Contents:

• Introduction
• The Importance of Evolution in Biology
  • How Do We Know What Scientists Think?
  • The Status of Scientific Literature
  • Evolution Is Fundamental to Modern Biology
• The Importance of Evolution in Science Education
• Impediments to Learning About Evolution
  • The Challenging Nature of Natural Selection as Target Learning
  • Teaching Evolution and Conceptual Change
• Worldview Commitments and Learning About Evolution
  • The Creation of Living Things
  • The Dateline
  • The Special Relationship
  • The Fall
  • The Flood
  • The Heavens
• Young-Earth Creationism
• Moral Objections to Evolution
  • Ideological Positions Associated with Evolutionary Ideas
• Creation Science
  • Intelligent Design
  • Responding to Creationism in the Classroom
• Conclusion

Download the author's manuscript version.