Barriers to teaching evolution in higher education.

Autor: Tolman ER; Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, 4125 LSB, Provo, UT 84602 USA., Ferguson DG; Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 4102 LSB, Provo, UT 84602 USA., Hubble G; Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 4102 LSD, Provo, UT 84602 USA., Kaloi M; Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 4102 LSB, Provo, UT 84602 USA., Niu M; Department of Neuroscience, Brigham Young University, S192A ESC, Provo, UT 84602 USA., Jensen JL; Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 4102 LSB, Provo, UT 84602 USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Evolution [Evolution (N Y)] 2021; Vol. 14 (1), pp. 12. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 13.
DOI: 10.1186/s12052-021-00151-1
Abstrakt: Background: Although progress has been made in evolution education, many educators face significant barriers in their efforts to teach evolution specifically, and science in general. The purpose of this study was to identify faculty-perceived barriers to teaching evolution, specifically in religiously affiliated institutions or institutions with a highly religious student body, as well as resources faculty feel would help promote discourse around faith, evolution and science. To do this, we held a workshop with teams consisting of a science professor, a theologian and a pastor (of the predominant on-campus faith tradition) from 17 different institutions of higher education with highly religious student bodies for the purpose of helping them to create a curriculum to address perceived conflicts between science and faith. During the workshop, participants created posters identifying barriers they face and resources they perceive as helpful. These posters were analyzed for prevalent themes and framed within an ecological model of behavior.
Results: These teams identified prevalent barriers at each level of the ecological model. Intrapersonal factors included a fear of rocking the boat and a fear of student conflict. Interpersonal factors included perceived student lack of knowledge, student ideology, and student apathy. Institutional factors included work politics, a lack of relevant discourse surrounding the conflict, and mixed messaging to students. Community factors included social norms associated with various student demographics. And public policy factors included local and state government attempts to limit the teaching of evolution. Additionally, participants identified resources that they felt would facilitate overcoming conflict including colleagues as change agents, various assets, and tools to negate conflict.
Conclusions: We determined that many of the concerns are addressable, and many resources are attainable. We urge the community to work toward these solutions. Additionally, we compare our findings to what the literature has shown and discuss the implications of faculty perceptions as compared to the published literature.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12052-021-00151-1.
Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests in the execution of this study.
(© The Author(s) 2021.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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