Evolution Challenges

A recent poll revealed that one in four Americans believe in both creationism and evolution, while another 41% believe that creationism is true and evolution is false. A minority (only 13%) believe only in evolution. Given the widespread resistance to the idea that humans and other animals have evolved and given the attention to the ongoing debate of what should be taught in public schools, issues related to the teaching and learning of evolution are quite timely. Evolution Challenges: Integrating Research and Practice in Teaching and Learning about Evolution goes beyond the science versus religion dispute to ask why evolution is so often rejected as a legitimate scientific fact, focusing on a wide range of cognitive, socio-cultural, and motivational factors that make concepts such as evolution difficult to grasp. The volume brings together researchers with diverse backgrounds in cognitive development and education to examine children's and adults' thinking, learning, and motivation, and how aspects of representational and symbolic knowledge influence learning about evolution. The book is organized around three main challenges inherent in teaching and learning evolutionary concepts: folk theories and conceptual biases, motivational and epistemological biases, and educational aspects in both formal and informal settings. Commentaries across the three main themes tie the book together thematically, and contributors provide ideas for future research and methods for improving the manner in which evolutionary concepts are conveyed in the classroom and in informal learning experiences. Evolution Challenges is a unique text that extends far beyond the traditional evolution debate and is an invaluable resource to researchers in cognitive development, science education and the philosophy of science, science teachers, and exhibit and curriculum developers.

Karl S. Rosengren is a Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. He has published widely in the fields of cognitive and motor development. In his current research he examines cultural influences in the development of causal reasoning and how children acquire different types of beliefs. He is a fellow of APS. Sarah K. Brem is an Associate Professor in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. A cognitive scientist, her research focuses on public use and understanding of scientific and technical information. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Early Career Award. E. Margaret Evans is an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan. Her research, funded by NSF and the Spencer Foundation, focuses on the cognitive and cultural factors influencing the developmental of scientific and religious concepts. In her current studies she investigates the emergence of developmental learning progressions for evolution as children and their parents encounter museum exhibitions on evolution. Gale M. Sinatra is a Professor at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She has served as an editor of Educational Psychologist and the Vice President of AERA's Division C, Learning and Instruction. She is a fellow of APA and AERA. Her research focuses on the role of emotions and motivation in reasoning about socio-scientific issues.

Foreword Eugenie C. ScottSection 1: Folk Theories, Conceptual and Perceptual Constraints1 "Two-thousand Years of Stasis": How Psychological Essentialism Impedes Evolutionary UnderstandingSusan A. Gelman and Marjorie Rhodes 2 Trees, Fish, and Other Fictions: Folk Biological Thought and its Implications for Understanding Evolutionary BiologyJohn D. Coley and Tara M. Muratore3 Cognitive Constraints on the Understanding and Acceptance of EvolutionAndrew Shtulman and Prassede Calabi4 Teleological Minds: How Natural Intuitions about Agency and Purpose Influence Learning About EvolutionDeborah Kelemen5 The Promise and Challenges of Introducing Tree Thinking into Evolution EducationKefyn M. Catley, Laura R. Novick, and Daniel J. Funk6 Narrative Spaces in the Representation and Understanding of EvolutionCamillia Matuk and David Uttal7 Misunderstanding Emergent Causal Mechanism in Natural SelectionMichelene T. H. Chi, Agnieszka Kosminska Kristensen and Rod Roscoe8 Encountering Counterintuitive Ideas: Building a Developmental Learning Progression for Evolution.E. Margaret Evans, Karl S. Rosengren, Jonathan D. Lane, and Kristin S. Price9 Commentary on Section 1: Constrained Learning: Reframing the Problem of Evolution Understanding and Implications for Science Education Karl S. Rosengren, and E. Margaret EvansSECTION IIA: EPISTEMOLOGICAL ISSUES10 Model-Based Instruction: Fostering Change in Evolutionary Conceptions and in Epistemic PracticesClark A. Chinn and Luke A. Buckland11 Why Don't Americans Accept Evolution As Much As People in Peer Nations Do? A Theory (Reinforced Theistic Manifest Destiny) and Some Pertinent EvidenceMichael Andrew Ranney12 Heuristics and the Counterintuitive in Science and Religion Ryan D. TweneySECTION IIB: IMPLEMENTING EDUCATION IN EVOLUTION: FORMAL EDUCATION13 Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching and Designing Effective K-12 Evolution Curricula Paul M. Beardsley, Mark V. Bloom, and Sarah B. Wise14 Why Don't Undergraduates Really "Get" Evolution? What Can Faculty Do? Craig E. Nelson15 An Intentional Approach to Teaching Evolution: Making Students Aware of the Factors Influencing Learning of Microevolution and Macroevolution Sherry A. Southerland and Louis S. NadelsonSECTION IIC: IMPLEMENTING EDUCATION IN EVOLUTION: INFORMAL EDUCATION16 Pattern and Process: Natural History Museum Exhibits in Evolution Judy Diamond and Patrick Kociolek17 Walking Whales and Singing Flies: An Evolution Exhibit and Assessment of its Impact Judy Diamond, E. Margaret Evans, and Amy N. Speigel18 Making Connections: Evolution and the Nature and Process of Science Anna Thanukos and Judy Scotchmoor19 Commentary on Section II: Bringing Multipke Levels of Analysis to Bear on Evolution Teaching and Learning Sarah K. Brem and Gale M. Sinatra