Children’s Ability to Learn Evolutionary Explanations for Biological Adaptation

Shtulman, Andrew; Neal, Cara; Lindquist, Gabrielle

doi:10.1080/10409289.2016.1154418

Cited by 47 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Conceptual coexistence was also found for heat and temperature knowledge at all seven time‐points. This coexistence of contradictory knowledge has also been found in experimental work examining the ability of children and adults to learn selection‐based explanations of biological adaptation (Shtulman, Neal, & Lindquist, ). Results showed that while older children and adults could equally learn these explanations, both groups included intuitive ideas alongside of scientifically accepted ideas.…”

Section: Conceptual Coexistencementioning

confidence: 62%

Categories in conflict: Combating the application of an intuitive conception of inheritance with category construction

et al. 2018

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The idea that characteristics acquired by an organism during its lifetime can be inherited by offspring and result in evolution is a substantial impediment to student understanding of evolution. In the current study, we performed a preliminary examination of how acquiring physical changes in a question prompt may differentially cue intuitive and scientific justifications of inheritance and evolution and how this varies based on how student learned the concept. Middle school students in a suburban northeastern district (N = 314) either learned about evolutionary change with a category construction task (with different levels of feedback support) or completed a worksheet. Three days later students responded to two free response scenarios (one where a physical change is acquired). Responses were coded based on student justifications for either science accuracy or intuitive nature. Specific reasons were coded by justification type with high inter‐rater agreement (k > 0.93). Results showed that students were more likely to apply intuitive reasoning when a physical change was acquired (50%) than if the change was behavioral in nature (16%). Additionally, students who completed the category construction task provided significantly more scientifically accurate justifications about inheritance (M = 1.12) than control students (M = 0.47), and significantly less intuitive justifications (M = 0.67) than control (M = 1.13). Finally, category construction produced the most scientific reasoning when feedback was provided. Taken together, these results suggest that intuitive reasoning is differentially applied based on physical organismal changes, intuitive reasoning is less frequent when learning via category construction, and the category construction task is more effective for this population with the inclusion of feedback.

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Section: Conceptual Coexistencementioning

confidence: 62%

Categories in conflict: Combating the application of an intuitive conception of inheritance with category construction

et al. 2018

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“…For example, Sinatra, Brem, and Evans () argue that essentialism constrains reasoning about biological evolution, thereby, inhibiting conceptual change about evolution. Consistent with this argument, a variety of descriptive studies have produced findings consistent with the claim that essentialism prevents students from conceptualizing species as populations of individuals differentially affected by selection (Shtulman, ; A. Shtulman, Neal, & Lindquist, ; Shtulman & Schulz, ). Studies have also found that essentialist thinking about species is reliably correlated with misconceptions about heredity and variation as well as low end of semester grades in introductory biology classes (Evans et al, ; Opfer et al, ; Shtulman & Schulz, ).…”

Section: Psychological Essentialismmentioning

confidence: 76%

Learned inequality: Racial labels in the biology curriculum can affect the development of racial prejudice

Donovan

2016

J Res Sci Teach

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For over a century, genetic arguments for the existence of racial inequality have been used to oppose policies that promote social equality. And, over that same time period, American biology textbooks have repeatedly discussed genetic differences between races. This experiment tests whether racial terminology in the biology curriculum causes adolescents to develop genetic beliefs about racial difference, thereby affecting prejudice. Individual students (N = 135, grades 7–9) were randomly assigned within their classrooms to learn either from: (i) four text‐based lessons discussing racial differences in skeletal structure and the prevalence of genetic disease (racial condition); or (ii) an identical curriculum lacking racial terminology (nonracial condition). Over 3‐months that coincided with this learning, students in the racial condition grew significantly more in their perception of the amount of genetic variation between races relative to students in the nonracial condition. Furthermore, those in the racial condition grew in their belief that races differ in intelligence for genetic reasons significantly more than those in the nonracial condition. And, compared to the nonracial condition, students in the racial condition became significantly less interested in socializing across racial lines and less supportive of policies that reduce racial inequality in education. These findings show how biology education sustains racial inequality, and conversely, how human genetic variation education could be designed to reduce genetically based racism. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54: 379–411, 2017

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“…Within this body of research (e.g. Emmons et al 2016;Kelemen et al 2014;Legare et al 2013;Shtulman et al 2016), children's reasoning often are labelled as correct or as holding "misconceptions" associated with teleological or creationist views on the origin of species. In taking on an interactive perspective on meaning making, this paper explores what the children focus on during the interactive read aloud, without determining if their focus is scientifically "right" or "wrong".…”

Section: Analytical Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have investigated to what extent children can learn about evolution by listening to or reading storybooks (e.g. Browning and Hohenstein 2015;Legare et al 2013;Shtulman et al 2016). In two studies by Kelemen et al (2014) and Emmons et al (2016) children were taught about evolution through listening to a factual narrative picture storybook called How the piloses evolved skinny noses 1 (Kelemen and The Child Cognition Lab 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s Encounters with Natural Selection During an Interactive Read Aloud

Frejd

2019

Res Sci Educ

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Previous studies have shown that children as young as 5 years of age are able to form a basic understanding of evolution after listening to a storybook about natural selection. This study offers a semiotic exploration of children's meaning making during an interactive read aloud of the same storybook by investigating what children focus on and negotiate during the read aloud. Video data from eight interactive read aloud sessions (N = 24 children) were analysed using a multimodal approach and contrasted with seven biological concepts intentionally described in the storybook. During the interactive reading, the children focused on all biological concepts at some point. However, apart from the biological concepts, the children also paid attention to other topics during the read aloud. These topics comprised Death, Change in behaviour, Realism, Babies, Milli bugs, and Aesthetics. Throughout the read aloud, a child-centric view of life influenced how the children made meaning about evolution. The findings highlight that through interactive reading, instructional storybooks also become a tool for discussing other aspects that children find important. Overall, the findings contribute with knowledge about the role of interactive read aloud as a pedagogical tool for introducing evolution in early childhood education.

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Children’s Ability to Learn Evolutionary Explanations for Biological Adaptation

Cited by 47 publications

References 49 publications

Categories in conflict: Combating the application of an intuitive conception of inheritance with category construction

Categories in conflict: Combating the application of an intuitive conception of inheritance with category construction

Learned inequality: Racial labels in the biology curriculum can affect the development of racial prejudice

Children’s Encounters with Natural Selection During an Interactive Read Aloud

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