Science Education

Asurvey done in 2007 found that only a third of public high schoolbiology teachers were able to present the subject of evolution in away that satisfied national science experts. And 13 percent ofteachers offered creationism as a "valid scientific alternative"to evolution.

Twelveyears later, teaching practices related to evolution are much better,according to arecently published report.The researchers found "substantial reductions" increationist instruction and a "substantial increase" in thetime that high school teachers devote to human evolution and theevolutionary process in general. The findings were published in thejournal Evolution:Education and Outreach.The researchers came from PennState Universityand the NationalCenter for Science Education.

Whythe uptake in more scientifically astute instruction? The researcherspointed to three changes:

Broad adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards or state standards that borrow heavily from NGSS;

Improvements in pre-service teacher education; and

Changing practices of in-service teachers through improved professional development.

Theproject analyzed data from the "Survey of American ScienceTeachers" which was done between February and May 2019. Whilethe survey included both high school and middle school samples, thisreport relied on high school responses, in particular.

Inboth surveys more than 95 percent of high school biology teachersreported covering evolution to some degree. But there was a 60percent increase in the average number of class hours devoted tohuman evolution in the 2019 survey, an increase from 4.1 hours to 7.7hours.

Also,there was "considerable movement" in how teachers respondedto a question asking them whether they "emphasize the broadconsensus that evolution is a fact, even as scientists disagree aboutthe specific mechanisms through which evolution occurred." Theshare of teachers who disagreed with that statement declined from 22percent to 13 percent, and the percentage who agreed grew from 74percent to 79 percent. Those who "strongly agreed" rosefrom 30 percent to 47 percent.

Theproportion of teachers who reported discussing creationism andintelligent design in classes dropped from 23 percent to 14 percent.And where it was discussed, the researchers pointed out, "someteachers may raise the topic of creationism in the context ofexplaining why it is not scientific." To understand responsesbetter, the survey included two additional questions:

"I emphasize that intelligent design is a valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species"; and

"I emphasize that many reputable scientists view creationism or intelligent design as valid alternatives to Darwinian theory."

Thenumber of teachers disagreeing with the first statement rose from 32percent to 58 percent, a change "largely driven by a sharp dropin the number of teachers who declined to answer this question,"from 53 percent to 29 percent. And there was a big increase "inthe percentage of teachers strongly disagreeing with each statement."The researchers interpreted that to mean that "more teachers areconfident in their acceptance of evolution and rejection ofcreationism."

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US Teachers Evolving on Science of Evolution - T.H.E. Journal