Thinking Evolutionarily Evolution Education Across the Life Sciences: Summary of a Convocation (2012) / Chapter Skim
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2 Changing Curricula and Instruction
2 Changing Curricula and Instruction
Pages 9-24
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From page 9... ...
Teaching evolution throughout the curriculum would make it impossible to avoid the subject, said Pennock. The challenge for the convocation, said Pennock, is: "How can we make sure that you couldn't do this unless you had to glue the whole textbook together?
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From page 10... ...
use the scientific method to critically evaluate scientific theories including, but not limited to, the theories of global warming and evolution," and "(B) use relevant scientific data to assess the validity of those theories and to formulate arguments for and against those theories."1 As Michigan Representative John Moolenaar said, this language leaves it up to local school boards whether to require the teaching of intelligent design (ID)
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From page 11... ...
. Even 32 percent of students with a college education answered "no" to the question, "Do you think that the modern theory of evolution has a valid scientific foundation." In fact, among high school biology teachers, 40 percent think that "there are sufficient problems with the theory of evolution to cast doubts on its validity" (Berkman and Plutzer, 2011)
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From page 12... ...
12 THINKING EVOLUTIONARILY FIGURE 2-1 A larger percentage of people reject evolution as false in the United States than in almost all other developed countries.
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From page 13... ...
Evolutionary science has many topics featuring practical applications, such as evolu tionary medicine, pest management, forensic tools, evolutionary compu tation, and evolutionary engineering design. Most scientists themselves became interested in science because of a hook that got them emotionally engaged, observed Pennock.
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From page 14... ...
Evolutionary understanding continues to progress as more questions are answered and as understanding is refined. If students understand that the science continues to advance at the forefront of knowledge, then they can take a big step toward understanding not only how evolutionary biology but also how science in general works.
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From page 15... ...
"We finally have a new lever to let students observe [models for mechanisms of evolution] for themselves and do so through inquiry-based lessons." Intelligent design creationists have been alarmed by the BEACON center, said Pennock, because it shows how complex systems can evolve through the mechanisms of evolution.
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From page 16... ...
"Evolution works." These kinds of success stories can be disseminated to the public through a variety of means. A recent USA Science and Engineering Festival featured the practical applications of evolution through the Evolution Thought Trail, a collaborative effort among some 15 disciplinary societies and the National Academy of Sciences.4 Presentations on influenza viruses, robot controllers, and pest management all have drawn considerable attention.
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From page 17... ...
"If you think about how we teach science, this is not such as a surprising conclusion." As editor of Science, Alberts has been working to redefine science education, and the key to this redefinition is the introductory college science class. These classes need to address all four strands of science proficiency described in the publication Taking Science to School (National Research Council, 2007)
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From page 18... ...
A valuable activity for scientific societies would be to work with other societies and institutions to reshape college introductory biology courses to address all four of these strands, said Alberts. Scientific Societies Another valuable role for scientific societies would be to emphasize the importance of high-quality, low-resource lab modules that stress stu dent inquiry to replace the standard, follow-the-instructions, "cookbook" college laboratories.
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From page 19... ...
DISCUSSION Changing Attitudes In response to a question about whether the 40 percent of high school biology teachers who doubt evolution were science majors or teaching majors, Pennock pointed out that they were all undergraduates at one time, whether they were biology majors or not. Scientists have a tendency to push the blame for not understanding evolution to earlier and earlier ages, whether college, high school, elementary school, or parents' atti tudes.
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From page 20... ...
" Teaching evolution across the curriculum, as well as modeling effective teaching approaches, is a way to break out of this cycle, said Pennock. Effective teachers can show their colleagues how to teach evolution well, and effectiveness will spread.
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From page 21... ...
. Better to try to figure out how to teach biology to people in a way that people will learn if not accept." Student Motivation A major theme of several discussion sessions was getting students motivated and emotionally invested in learning about evolution.
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From page 22... ...
It can make a huge difference to take them out on at least one and ideally multiple trips to the field to let them see organisms in the wild." Such experiences can cement the concepts students learn in a classroom and help them become scientifically literate adults. According to Richard Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution, it is possible to use depictions of evolution in popular culture to teach students, including both realistic ideas about evolution and "terribly wrong" ideas.
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From page 23... ...
Much of the responsibility for the UTeach initiative lies with the university's science faculty.7 "It's not any surprise that a lot of high school science teachers don't really understand science because they're not sci ence majors in large part, but that's beginning to change," Potts noted. During the general discussion, Schrein briefly summarized a survey on science education in elementary schools of 1,100 teachers, principals, and district administrators at 300 California public schools (Dorph et al., 2011)
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From page 24... ...
2007. Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8.
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