Work

The Effects of Evolution Education: Examining Attitudes toward and Knowledge of Evolution in College Courses

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: The present study examined changes in university students' attitudes toward and knowledge of evolution measured by the previously validated Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS) in response to curricular content. Specifically, student responses on the survey were compared across an evolutionary psychology course, an introductory biology course with significant evolutionary content, and a political science course with no evolutionary content. To this end, 868 students were assessed at a large Midwestern U.S. university prior to and following completion of one of the three courses. A multiple group repeated measures confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine latent mean differences in self-reported Evolution Knowledge/Relevance, Creationist Reasoning, Evolutionary Misconceptions, and Exposure to Evolution. A significant and notable increase in Knowledge/Relevance, as well as decreases in Creationist Reasoning and Evolutionary Misconceptions, was observed for the evolutionary psychology course, whereas the biology course demonstrated no change in Knowledge/Relevance and a significant increase in Evolutionary Misconceptions. The implications of these findings for evolution education are discussed.

Source: Evolutionary Psychology

DOI: 10.1177/147470491501300105

Authors: Stephen D. Short, Patricia H. Hawley

Institutions: College of Charleston, Texas Tech University

Language: English

Topic: Evolution and Science Education

Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,000