Between Scientific Ideas and Christian Religious Beliefs

Peñaloza, Gonzalo; El-Hani, Charbel Niño; Suárez, Carlos Javier Mosquera

doi:10.1007/s11191-021-00218-x

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Some religious beliefs seem to play an important role in the views on evolution [ 61 ]. Downie and Barron [ 28 ] conducted a 12-year investigation with high school students, and they realized that those who rejected the TE accepted a religious version that would explain the origin of the species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Mexico, 80% of the population is Catholic [ 62 ], a religion that is also based on the idea of creationism. However, its practitioners do not usually take the Bible narrative about the origin of species literally, but they rather create their own beliefs about it [ 61 ], and it seems not to have such a marked conflict with the idea of change in species. Several studies in traditionally Catholic countries show acceptance ranges from moderate to high, such as in Spain [ 13 , 14 ] and Brazil [ 25 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Non-religious students, or those who do not identify with a religion, have higher scores, placing them at a higher level as compared to those who do identify with a religion, who remain at a moderate level. Some religious beliefs seem to play an important role in the views on evolution [61]. Downie and Barron [28] conducted a 12-year investigation with high school students, and they realized that those who rejected the TE accepted a religious version that would explain the origin of the species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution in high school students in Mexico

2023

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The Theory of Evolution (TE) is the backbone of biology and is the best way to explain the diversity of species that exist on the planet. However, despite all the supporting evidence, TE remains poorly understood and accepted. In this study, the levels of acceptance and understanding of TE were measured, respectively, using the Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance (I-SEA) and Knowledge of Evolution Exam (KEE) questionnaires, in high school students in Monterrey, Mexico (N = 370). The results show that the acceptance of TE ranges from moderate (90.3 out of 120) to high (3.7 out of 5), depending on the scale with which it is measured, while the level of comprehension is low (4.5 out of 10). Statistical analysis of the data collected reveals that there is a positive relationship between acceptance and understanding of TE (r = 0.34). In addition, the proportions of I-SEA and KEE were evaluated based on several factors, such as religion and educational level of the parents, among others. It was found that the level of education of the parents positively affects the understanding of the basic concepts of TE, while religion is the main factor of negative influence on both acceptance and understanding. Finally, the low comprehension shown in this study suggests a revision and readjustment of the contents that are taught in the upper secondary education curriculum.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution in high school students in Mexico

2023

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“…The reason is straightforward: the promotion of a genuine understanding of evolution is not a priority in this country. Peñaloza et al ( 2021 ) highlight relevant characteristics of the Colombian curriculum context that we consider useful to better interpret this result. First, in this country, evolution is taught at the 8th or 9th grade levels of secondary education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

STEM and Non-STEM Misconceptions About Evolution: Findings from 5 Years of Data

et al. 2023

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Even though it is widely held that the theory of evolution is one of the pillars of the biological sciences, as we begin the third decade of the twenty-first century, it is alarming how little we know about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and non-STEM majors’ misconceptions about evolution in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Greece, to name a few. The situation is even more complicated if we acknowledge that contemporary educational approaches (e.g., student-centered learning) mean that students’ misconceptions are one of the multiple aspects that influence the construction of meaningful learning. Here, we present a picture of Colombian STEM/non-STEM majors’ misconceptions about evolution. Participants were 547 students from different STEM/non-STEM majors (278 females and 269 males, 16–24 years old). During 5 years (10 academic semesters), data were collected from students’ responses to an 11-item questionnaire administered in a Colombian university. We hypothesized that the academic semester within these 5 years in which each student completed the instrument as well as respondents’ age, gender, and/or major may influence their misconceptions about evolution. Results reveal that participants had a moderate understanding of evolution. Also, we found a limited understanding of microevolution among participants. Furthermore, cross-sectional analyses of differences in undergraduates’ responses across demographic variables showed that despite apparent differences, these were not reliable since the differences were not statistically significant. Implications for evolution education are discussed.

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“…Here, we see that anti-evolution scenarios 3, 6, and 7 address the theory of creation more directly than the misfitting scenarios. It makes sense that those teachers with literalist monotheistic worldviews would express strong negative emotions regarding the pro-evolution scenarios coupled with strong feelings of joy on the scenarios specifically condoning supernatural explanations for the origins of life (Peñaloza et al, 2021). The influence of referencing curriculum and specific religious events on the solicitation of teachers' emotions is important to consider when planning future revisions and use of the E-EARS.…”

Section: Misfitting Responses and Next Steps For Improving The Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Science Teachers' Emotional Experiences with Evolution using Real World Scenarios

Romine

Mahajan

Todd

2021

Eurasian Journal of Science and Environmental Education

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Low acceptance of evolution remains an obstacle to quality biology instruction. We develop and utilize a novel assessment which measures emotional experience in light of real-world evolution education scenarios. We presented 296 science teachers 4 pro-evolution and 8 anti-evolution scenarios and asked them to rate their levels of joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, shame, and guilt elicited by that scenario on an ordinal 5-point scale. We used exploratory factor analysis to extract the most important dimensions in the teachers' responses, Rasch analysis to explore the validity of the extracted subscales, and stepwise regression to find the most important factors driving emotional dispositions. We extracted 3 factors: (1) pro-evolution experience (positive emotions on pro-evolution and negative emotions on anti-evolution scenarios), (2) anti-evolution experience (negative emotions on pro-evolution and positive emotions on anti-evolution scenarios), and (2) feelings of regret over anti-evolution scenarios (shame and guilt on anti-evolution scenarios). Acceptance of evolution facts and a non-theistic religious orientation were positively related to pro-evolution experience. Anti-evolution experience was predicted by lack of microevolution acceptance and lack of teacher preparation. Feelings of regret around anti-evolution scenarios were driven by acceptance of evolution facts and lower levels of teacher preparation. This work advances our understanding of how teachers relate affectively to the theory of evolution and offers empirical insight into ways to improve dispositions about evolution.

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Between Scientific Ideas and Christian Religious Beliefs

Cited by 6 publications

References 55 publications

Understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution in high school students in Mexico

Understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution in high school students in Mexico

STEM and Non-STEM Misconceptions About Evolution: Findings from 5 Years of Data

Measuring Science Teachers' Emotional Experiences with Evolution using Real World Scenarios

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