scholarly journals Muslim undergraduate biology students’ evolution acceptance in the United States

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255588
Author(s):  
M. Elizabeth Barnes ◽  
Julie A. Roberts ◽  
Samantha A. Maas ◽  
Sara E. Brownell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evolution Acceptance ◽  
Muslim Students ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Acceptance Of Evolution ◽  
Muslim Student ◽  
Strongly Agree

Evolution is a prominent component of biology education and remains controversial among college biology students in the United States who are mostly Christian, but science education researchers have not explored the attitudes of Muslim biology students in the United States. To explore perceptions of evolution among Muslim students in the United States, we surveyed 7,909 college students in 52 biology classes in 13 states about their acceptance of evolution, interest in evolution, and understanding of evolution. Muslim students in our sample, on average, did not agree with items that measured acceptance of macroevolution and human evolution. Further, on average, Muslim students agreed, but did not strongly agree with items measuring microevolution acceptance. Controlling for gender, major, race/ethnicity, and international status, we found that the evolution acceptance and interest levels of Muslim students were slightly higher than Protestant students and students who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, Muslim student evolution acceptance levels were significantly lower than Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu students as well as students who did not identify with a religion (agnostic and atheists). Muslim student understanding of evolution was similar to students from other affiliations, but was lower than agnostic and atheist students. We also examined which variables are associated with Muslim student acceptance of evolution and found that higher understanding of evolution and lower religiosity are positive predictors of evolution acceptance among Muslim students, which is similar to the broader population of biology students. These data are the first to document that Muslim students have lower acceptance of evolution compared to students from other affiliations in undergraduate biology classrooms in the United States.

An Analysis and Recommendations Concerning an Incident in Which Muslim Students Interrupted an Israel Official Speaking on a College Campus

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-147
Author(s):  
Gilbert Geis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Campus ◽  
University Of California ◽  
District Attorney ◽  
Muslim Students ◽  
State Supreme Court ◽  
Muslim Student ◽  
The University ◽  
Student Association

Eleven young men, eight of them members of the Muslim Student Association at the University of California, Irvine, and three from UC Riverside, as part of a planned stratagem, in turn stood up and heckled the Israeli Ambassador to the United States for about 5 min during his public presentation on the Irvine campus. They were ejected from the auditorium and punished by the University. Subsequently, the local district attorney filed misdemeanor charges against the group and won a conviction. The article provides details of the event, the varying reactions to the behavior and to the criminal case, and describes and analyzes a key state Supreme Court opinion considering the constitutionality of the statute employed against the students. Finally, recommendations are offered as a means to avoid what the writer regards as an unfortunate and perhaps biased official action against members of an ethnic minority.

scholarly journals The Genetics Conceptual Understanding of Indonesian and United States Undergraduate Biology Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Ai Nurlaelasari Rusmana ◽  
Arif Rachmatullah ◽  
Eni Nuraeni ◽  
Minsu Ha
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Biology Majors

Abstract Genetics as a core concept of life science is essential for understanding biology. Examining genetics understanding among biology majors is becoming important since they must necessarily achieve some level of genetics understanding to advance their career. This study compares Indonesian biology majors’ genetics understanding with previously published data from students in the United States (US). This study also identifies the effect of academic year and program on genetics understanding by administering the Genetics Concept Assessment (GCA) to 377 biology majors in Indonesia. IRT-Rasch modeling was performed for instrument validation, followed by one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test for the analysis. The results showed that Indonesian biology majors’ genetics understanding was significantly affected by academic year but was not affected by the academic program. Indonesian biology majors had a slightly similar level of genetics understanding with US non-majors’ pre-test scores, while Indonesian biology majors’ scores were two times lower than US majors’ post-test scores. The implications of reducing the gap between two countries are discussed.

Corrigendum: No Missing Link: Knowledge Predicts Acceptance of Evolution in the United States

BioScience ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 826-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deena Skolnick Weisberg ◽  
Asheley R Landrum ◽  
S Emlen Metz ◽  
Michael Weisberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Acceptance Of Evolution

scholarly journals Investigating Novice and Expert Conceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. ar52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Potter ◽  
Sarah A. Bissonnette ◽  
Jonathan D. Knight ◽  
Kimberly D. Tanner
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Modification ◽  
Real World ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Molecular Behavior ◽  
Biology Majors

The aspiration of biology education is to give students tools to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to everyday life. Genetic modification is a real-world biological concept that relies on an in-depth understanding of the molecular behavior of DNA and proteins. This study investigated undergraduate biology students’ conceptions of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) when probed with real-world, molecular and cellular, and essentialist cues, and how those conceptions compared across biology expertise. We developed a novel written assessment tool and administered it to 120 non–biology majors, 154 entering biology majors, 120 advanced biology majors (ABM), and nine biology faculty. Results indicated that undergraduate biology majors rarely included molecular and cellular rationales in their initial explanations of GMOs. Despite ABM demonstrating that they have much of the biology knowledge necessary to understand genetic modification, they did not appear to apply this knowledge to explaining GMOs. Further, this study showed that all undergraduate student populations exhibited evidence of essentialist thinking while explaining GMOs, regardless of their level of biology training. Finally, our results suggest an association between scientifically accurate ideas and the application of molecular and cellular rationales, as well as an association between misconceptions and essentialist rationales.

scholarly journals A Comparison between Emergency Medicine Residency Training Programs in the United States and Saudi Arabia from the Residents’ Perception

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Alghamdi ◽  
Abdulaziz Alburaih ◽  
Mary Jo Wagner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emergency Medicine ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Residency Training ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Strongly Agree

Objectives. This study was designed to compare the trainees’ perception of emergency medicine (EM) training in the United States (US) and Saudi Arabia (SA) and to identify residents’ levels of confidence and points of satisfaction in education, procedural skills, and work environment.Method. An IRB-exempt anonymous web-based survey was distributed to five EM residency training programs in the USA and three residency regions in SA.Results. 342 residents were polled with a 20% response rate (16.8% USA and 25.8% SA). The Saudi residents responded less positively to the questions about preparation for their boards’ examinations, access to multiple educational resources, and weekly academic activities. The Saudi trainees felt less competent in less common procedures than US trainees. American trainees also more strongly agree that they have more faculty interest in their education compared to the Saudi trainees. The Saudi residents see more patients per hour compared to their US peers.Conclusion. These findings may be due to the differences in training techniques including less formal didactics and simulation experience in SA and more duty hour regulations in the USA.

scholarly journals BioCore Guide: A Tool for Interpreting the Core Concepts of Vision and Change for Biology Majors

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. Brownell ◽  
Scott Freeman ◽  
Mary Pat Wenderoth ◽  
Alison J. Crowe
Keyword(s):  
Biology Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Scientific Accuracy ◽  
And Function ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
And Storage

Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education outlined five core concepts intended to guide undergraduate biology education: 1) evolution; 2) structure and function; 3) information flow, exchange, and storage; 4) pathways and transformations of energy and matter; and 5) systems. We have taken these general recommendations and created a Vision and Change BioCore Guide—a set of general principles and specific statements that expand upon the core concepts, creating a framework that biology departments can use to align with the goals of Vision and Change. We used a grassroots approach to generate the BioCore Guide, beginning with faculty ideas as the basis for an iterative process that incorporated feedback from more than 240 biologists and biology educators at a diverse range of academic institutions throughout the United States. The final validation step in this process demonstrated strong national consensus, with more than 90% of respondents agreeing with the importance and scientific accuracy of the statements. It is our hope that the BioCore Guide will serve as an agent of change for biology departments as we move toward transforming undergraduate biology education.

scholarly journals Islam is a Foreign Country

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-116
Author(s):  
Maha Nassar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Country ◽  
Muslim Students ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Zareena Grewal’s book traces the hopes, debates, accomplishments, and disappointmentsof American Muslim students who travel to the Middle East inpursuit of Islamic knowledge. As Grewal discovers through her interviewswith over 100 students and teachers, the impetus behind many of their journeysis a desire to find a solution to the “crisis” of Islamic authority in theUnited States. But once they spend some time immersed in a predominantlyMuslim society, many discover that this crisis extends to the Muslim worldas well. More recently, some American Muslim scholars have shifted their attention away from the Middle East and toward an “indigenization” of AmericanIslam, which, the author points out, also faces many challenges.In chapter 1 Grewal explains that her project is focused on student-travelerswho view the Islamic East as an “Archive of Tradition” (p. 36) that they hopewill provide a more authentic and authoritative form of Islamic knowledgethan what they could learn in the United States. Her fieldwork took her toAmman, Damascus, and Cairo during the early 2000s, where she interviewedstudents of such figures as Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Qubaysiya AnsaTamara Gray, and Shaykh Ali Goma‘a, among others. The students she metcame from diverse ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Grewaldoes a good job of highlighting how these factors shaped their journeys ...

The Midpoint on a Five-Point Likert-Type Scale

1987 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Alternative Analysis ◽  
One Year ◽  
Strongly Agree ◽  
Scale Format

Previous studies on the points of the Likert-scale format have not addressed the question of the effect on the score resulting from the use of “neutral” or “undecided” as the midpoint of a five-point scale. The present study addressed this topic with a scale on attitude toward the school board, using 389 undergraduate and 190 graduate students in education, the latter having at least one year of teaching experience, in seven geographically separated universities in the United States. The two formats of the scale were identical (strongly agree to strongly disagree) except that one scale midpoint was designated “undecided” and the midpoint of the other scale was designated as “neutral” with “undecided” as a no-answer alternative. Analysis showed differences were negligible and little if any erosion of score appears to result.

scholarly journals Relations between Intuitive Biological Thinking and Biological Misconceptions in Biology Majors and Nonmajors

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. ar8 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Coley ◽  
Kimberly Tanner
Keyword(s):  
Theory Development ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Intuitive Reasoning ◽  
Conceptual Systems ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Written Explanations ◽  
Biology Majors

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed misconceptions, among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists have described intuitive conceptual systems—teleological, essentialist, and anthropocentric thinking—that humans use to reason about biology. We hypothesize that seemingly unrelated biological misconceptions may have common origins in these intuitive ways of knowing, termed cognitive construals. We presented 137 undergraduate biology majors and nonmajors with six biological misconceptions. They indicated their agreement with each statement, and explained their rationale for their response. Results indicate frequent agreement with misconceptions, and frequent use of construal-based reasoning among both biology majors and nonmajors in their written explanations. Moreover, results also show associations between specific construals and the misconceptions hypothesized to arise from those construals. Strikingly, such associations were stronger among biology majors than nonmajors. These results demonstrate important linkages between intuitive ways of thinking and misconceptions in discipline-based reasoning, and raise questions about the origins, persistence, and generality of relations between intuitive reasoning and biological misconceptions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document