Red-baiting in tooth and claw

Throughout the twentieth century, Carl Weinberg explains in Red Dynamite: Creationism, Culture Wars, and Anticommunism in America, American antievolutionists regularly attempted to vilify evolution through its supposed association with communism. His book is a splendid chronicle of the deployment and development of their claims.

European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

Background Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular, meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems, are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these deficits, we conducted a standardized European survey, on 9200 first-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, comprehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as well as influencing factors on evolution acceptance. Results We found that, despite European countries’ different cultural backgrounds and education systems, European first-year university students generally accept evolution. At the same time, they lack substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in a biology-related study program. Additionally, we developed a multilevel-model that determines religious faith as the main influencing factor in accepting evolution. According to our model, knowledge about evolution and interest in biological topics also increase acceptance of evolution, but to a much lesser extent than religious faith. The effect of age and sex, as well as the country’s affiliation, students’ denomination, and whether or not a student is enrolled in a biology-related university program, is negligible. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, despite all their differences, most of the European education systems for upper secondary education lead to acceptance of evolution at least in university students. It appears that, at least in this sample, the differences in knowledge between countries reflect neither the extent to which school curricula cover evolutionary biology nor the percentage of biology-related students in the country samples. Future studies should investigate the role of different European school curricula, identify particularly problematic or underrepresented evolutionary concepts in biology education, and analyze the role of religious faith when teaching evolution.

Role models, compatibility, and knowledge lead to increased evolution acceptance

Background Evolution acceptance is still low in the United States, especially among religious students. Due to low acceptance, researchers have used a wide variety of methods to increase evolution acceptance. Six culturally competent methods for teaching evolution to religious students have been identified, this manuscript looks specifically at the method of reconciliation between religion and evolution. The reconciliation module has been shown to effectively increase evolution acceptance while allowing students to maintain their religious views. However, we lack an understanding of why this method is effective. We measure evolution acceptance and religiosity at eight religiously affiliated institutions in the United States to again measure the effects of a reconciliation model in biology classrooms. This manuscript also attempts to address classroom influences that allowed students to reconcile evolution with their religious beliefs. Results Of the eight schools that participated, there were no statistically significant decreases in the religiosity of the students over the semester. Five of the eight institutions had statistically significant increases in their evolution acceptance scores over the semester. We identified three major influences students mentioned as reasons for change towards evolution acceptance: the presence of a role model, discussions on religion and science compatibility, and learning about evolution. Conclusions We identified influential practices instructors could integrate into their classrooms to help students better incorporate evolution into their personal views. Having a role model and talking about compatibility between religion and evolution are influential in changing students’ views about evolution. Learning the mechanisms of the theory of evolution is also important in changing students’ views about evolution and might be more impactful when used in conjunction with a role model or a compatibility discussion.

Book reviews in the age of social media

Despite the large quantity and wide variety of popular science books available in biology, most undergraduate biology majors seldom read full-length books outside of class. To ensure that the students in my Writing in Biology class are exposed to such books, I assign a book review essay and provide an annotated list of a few dozen books in genetics, evolution, and other areas of biology. The assignment also includes a section on the book author’s style, in which students use material discussed earlier in the class. Informal presentations of the books provide opportunities for various discussions. The assignment (including the list of books) is included in an Additional file 1.

What can student-generated animations tell us about students’ conceptions of evolution?

Background A large body of research has investigated students’ conceptions of evolutionary changes and emphasizes that students have alternative conceptions about their causes. A conventional way to monitor students’ conceptions is through inventories where researchers analyse their written answers. However, textbooks are being increasingly complemented with, or even replaced by, various multimedia materials where multiple modes are used to communicate evolutionary processes. This has profound implications for students’ learning, and highlights that allowing different modes of expression may influence which knowledge they present. Therefore, the goal of this exploratory study is to expand the understanding of students’ conceptions of evolution through natural selection by applying student-generated stop-motion animations to reveal their conceptions. Forty-seven Swedish upper secondary school students generated 18 animations concerning evolution through natural selection. We analysed these animations qualitatively using content analysis to reveal key concepts, alternative conceptions and connections between organizational levels and time. This analysis is related to findings from previous studies on students’ conceptions of evolutionary change. Results Our study highlights some of the benefits and limitations of using these two assessment methods. In terms of identifying alternative conceptions, a clear difference between the results of the two methods of assessment was observed. In particular, the alternative conception of essentialism appeared to a lesser extent in the student’s animations than in their written responses, while natural selection as an event was more prevalent. Conclusions These findings support the view that students’ expression of different misconceptions is influenced by the context and representational form. The work also reveals that generating stop-motion animations to explain scientific concepts is an engaging approach that stimulates students to explore their understanding in a creative and personal manner. This is potentially positive for engagement and learning. The potential for complementing standard paper-and-pen tests with tasks that encompass stop-motion animations is also discussed.

Utilizing inquiry-driven science outreach to curate Natural Trap Cave fossils and inspire the pursuit of STEM careers

Despite the rising emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education in the last two decades, the United States has seen little change in student performance, based on international assessments. Transforming science education from the more traditional, lecture-format classes to inquiry-driven exercises is central for improving student’s STEM literacy and competency at all grade levels. This paper describes an outreach program that was developed for upper-level U.S. high school students (10th–12th grade) and centers around hands-on, inquiry-driven exercises using the large-bodied (> 3 kg) mammalian fossils from Natural Trap Cave (NTC). The objectives of this program were for the students to develop an understanding of the morphological adaptations of the vertebrate skeleton, preservational biases in the fossil record, and to participate in each of the curatorial steps used for the long-term preservation of fossils. Students from Des Moines Public School Central Campus came to Des Moines University 2 hours a week for a semester, receiving high school and community college credit for participating. The NTC outreach program has been offered for 11 semesters since the fall of 2014. Thirty-four high school students have participated, consisting of 24 women and 10 men, with 19 of the students belonging to African American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Hispanic ethnicities. The students helped to identify and curate 3,700 NTC fossil specimens. Several of the students presented posters on the work they did during this outreach program at the multiple district and state science fairs in Iowa and received accolades. Only the 2017–2019 students were surveyed, but all the students reported gaining a deeper understanding of the scientific process and the utility of paleontology. One student even reported changing their career goal from undecided to a STEM field. The framework developed for the NTC outreach program can be easily modified to fit the needs or structure of another research project, community partnership, science laboratory, or museum facility, with the target audience being students from middle school to undergraduate. This type of STEM outreach program can also help improve scientific literacy and generate much-needed excitement and interest in science, at a time when many students are exploring potential career paths.

Barriers to teaching evolution in higher education

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.

Understanding creation science and intelligent design

In American Creationism, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design in the Evangelical Market, Benjamin Huskinson presents a close examination of the two main American sociopolitical movements launched in opposition to evolution during the second half of the twentieth century: creation science and intelligent design. Despite a failure of a central argument and a handful of errors, the book is a welcome and valuable interrogation of the stereotypes of American creationism.

Evaluating Darwin’s Book on the Descent off Man

This is a review of A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent of Man Got Right and Wrong about Human Evolution, edited by Jeremy DeSilva. The book has ten chapters, the first seven evaluating and updating the seven chapters of The Descent of Man, the eighth outlining Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, the ninth criticizing Darwin’s view of how sexual selection shaped human racial divergence, and the tenth summarizing hominin diversification.