A Cross-Cultural Study on Freshmen’s Knowledge of Genetics, Evolution, and the Nature of Science

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the freshmen’s level of knowledge about genetics, evolution, human evolution, the nature of science, and opinions on evolution and the presence of non-scientific explanations among Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian and Turkish students. Determination of prior knowledge and pre-conceptions about these issues is important because they are filters to learning other related concepts. The results are going to be a starting point for developing teaching strategies concerning Darwinian evolution and preparing prospective science teachers for working with students in national and international contexts. A total of 994 first-year university students from the Czech Republic (276; 27.8%), Slovakia (212, 21.3%), Slovenia (217, 27.3%) and Turkey (235, 23.6%) participated in this study. The findings can be summarized as follows: knowledge especially that of the nature of science at the freshmen level was seriously flawed. Non-scientific explanations were present in high percentages. Both were regarded as barriers towards scientific reasoning and acceptance of general human evolution especially for students expressing orthodox religious beliefs. Key words: evolution, genetics, human evolution, nature of science, non-scientific explanations.

Výzkum evolučních znalostí a postojů v České republice a nový standardizovaný nástroj (EEQ) pro výzkumy v této oblasti

“…Necelá čtvrtina analyzovaných evropských výzkumů národní úroveň přesahuje a srovnává respondenty ze dvou či více zemí, konkrétně se jedná o studie: Clément, 2015a, 2015b, Clément et al, 2012, Göransson et al, 2020, Graf & Soran, 2011, Kralj et al, 2018, Nehm et al, 2013a Šorgo et al, 2014. Celkově ovšem současná evropská scéna představuje spíše izolované a nesouvisející ostrůvky poznání buď v oblasti evolučních znalostí, anebo v oblasti evolučních postojů než dílky z jedné navazující mozaiky.…”