Evolution Challenges: Integrating Research and Practice in Teaching and Learning about Evolution

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.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Eugenie C. Scott Section 1: Folk Theories, Conceptual and Perceptual Constraints 1 "Two-thousand Years of Stasis": How Psychological Essentialism Impedes Evolutionary Understanding Susan A. Gelman and Marjorie Rhodes 2 Trees, Fish, and Other Fictions: Folk Biological Thought and its Implications for Understanding Evolutionary Biology John D. Coley and Tara M. Muratore 3 Cognitive Constraints on the Understanding and Acceptance of Evolution Andrew Shtulman and Prassede Calabi 4 Teleological Minds: How Natural Intuitions about Agency and Purpose Influence Learning About Evolution Deborah Kelemen 5 The Promise and Challenges of Introducing Tree Thinking into Evolution Education Kefyn M. Catley, Laura R. Novick, and Daniel J. Funk 6 Narrative Spaces in the Representation and Understanding of Evolution Camillia Matuk and David Uttal 7 Misunderstanding Emergent Causal Mechanism in Natural Selection Michelene T. H. Chi, Agnieszka Kosminska Kristensen and Rod Roscoe 8 Encountering Counterintuitive Ideas: Building a Developmental Learning Progression for Evolution. E. Margaret Evans, Karl S. Rosengren, Jonathan D. Lane, and Kristin S. Price 9 Commentary on Section 1: Constrained Learning: Reframing the Problem of Evolution Understanding and Implications for Science Education Karl S. Rosengren, and E. Margaret Evans SECTION IIA: EPISTEMOLOGICAL ISSUES 10 Model-Based Instruction: Fostering Change in Evolutionary Conceptions and in Epistemic Practices Clark A. Chinn and Luke A. Buckland 11 Why Don't Americans Accept Evolution As Much As People in Peer Nations Do? A Theory (Reinforced Theistic Manifest Destiny) and Some Pertinent Evidence Michael Andrew Ranney 12 Heuristics and the Counterintuitive in Science and Religion Ryan D. Tweney SECTION IIB: IMPLEMENTING EDUCATION IN EVOLUTION: FORMAL EDUCATION 13 Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching and Designing Effective K-12 Evolution Curricula Paul M. Beardsley, Mark V. Bloom, and Sarah B. Wise 14 Why Don't Undergraduates Really "Get" Evolution? What Can Faculty Do? Craig E. Nelson 15 An Intentional Approach to Teaching Evolution: Making Students Aware of the Factors Influencing Learning of Microevolution and Macroevolution Sherry A. Southerland and Louis S. Nadelson SECTION IIC: IMPLEMENTING EDUCATION IN EVOLUTION: INFORMAL EDUCATION 16 Pattern and Process: Natural History Museum Exhibits in Evolution Judy Diamond and Patrick Kociolek 17 Walking Whales and Singing Flies: An Evolution Exhibit and Assessment of its Impact Judy Diamond, E. Margaret Evans, and Amy N. Speigel 18 Making Connections: Evolution and the Nature and Process of Science Anna Thanukos and Judy Scotchmoor 19 Commentary on Section II: Bringing Multipke Levels of Analysis to Bear on Evolution Teaching and Learning Sarah K. Brem and Gale M. Sinatra

About the Author :
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.

Review :
"...likely to have something new for both teachers and researchers, and may be of interest to general readers hoping to learn more about the psychological underpinnings of people's understanding (or misunderstanding) and acceptance (or rejection) of evolution. This is an important book on an important set of topics, sure to elevate discussion (if not alleviate stress) when it comes to the challenges of teaching and learning about evolution." --Tania Lombrozo, Reports of the National Center for Science Education "No books in the crowded field of evolutionary biology come close to tackling such a rich array of topics. This reason alone makes Evolution Challenges essential reading for anyone with an interest in science education. Evolution Challenges is without question one of the most outstanding scholarly titles on evolution education that I have read in the past 20 years. The diversity of scholarly perspectives and methodological approaches in this collection exemplifes why evolution education continues to be one of the most fecund, fascinating and informative areas of science education research. I expect this innovative collection of studies to impact how the community envisions the challenges of evolution education for years to come." --Ross H. Nehm, Science & Education Some of the most notable strengths of this edited volume include: unprecedented disciplinary diversity--more than 30 contributors from cognitive developmental psychology, evolutionary biology, paleontology, science education, educational psychology, and informal education; broad conceptual coverage of evolution education--notably cognition, folkbiology, micro- and macroevolution, and museum education; an assembly of accomplished authors well-known for their scholarship in the growing field of evolution education. No books in the crowded field of evolutionary biology come close to tackling such a rich array of topics. This reason alone makes Evolution Challenges essential reading for anyone with an interest in science education. Evolution Challenges is without question one of the most outstanding scholarly titles on evolution education that I have read in the past 20 years." --Ross H. Nehm, Science & Education