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Conflict reducing practices in evolution education are associated with increases in evolution acceptance in a large
Rahmi Qurota Aini1, K Supriya2, Hayley Dunlop3
1Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United States of America.
Plos One
|December 4, 2024
Summary
Conflict-reducing practices in biology education can increase student acceptance of evolution. Emphasizing religion-evolution compatibility helps Christian students, while highlighting personal choice benefits all students.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Science Education
Background:
- Many college students struggle to accept key evolutionary concepts, particularly human evolution.
- Low acceptance of evolution poses challenges in biology education.
- Practices reducing perceived religion-evolution conflict are proposed to improve acceptance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how college students' experiences with conflict-reducing practices in evolution education relate to their acceptance of human evolution.
- To assess the impact of instructor-led compatibility and autonomy emphasis on evolution acceptance.
Main Methods:
- Surveyed 6,719 college biology students across 55 courses in 14 states.
- Measured student experiences with instructor-provided examples of religion-evolution compatibility.
- Measured student experiences with instructors emphasizing personal autonomy in accepting evolution.
- Assessed student acceptance of human evolution before and after instruction.
Main Results:
- Highly religious Christian students showed increased evolution acceptance with perceived religion-evolution compatibility practices.
- Students of all religious and non-religious backgrounds demonstrated greater human evolution acceptance after instruction when autonomy practices were emphasized.
- Perceived compatibility and autonomy practices were associated with increased evolution acceptance.
Conclusions:
- Integrating religion-evolution compatibility examples positively influences Christian students' views on evolution.
- Emphasizing student autonomy in accepting evolution is beneficial for a broader range of students.
- Conflict-reducing pedagogical strategies can enhance evolution acceptance in college biology courses.
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