Development and evaluation of the knowledge about evolution 2.0 instrument (KAEVO 2.0)

Kuschmierz, Paul; Beniermann, Anna; Graf, Dittmar

doi:10.1080/09500693.2020.1822561

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…For the purpose of this study, we used parts of the "Evolution Education Questionnaire (EEQ)" (Beniermann et al 2021b) which has been designed to assess acceptance of evolution, knowledge about evolution, and religious faith. Specifically, we analyzed the subscales KAEVO-A (Kuschmierz et al 2020a), ATEVO (Beniermann 2019), and PERF (Beniermann 2019) of the EEQ. Unlike most instruments in this field of research (Kuschmierz et al 2020a)-these have been validated in the European context based on standards for educational and psychological testing (American Educational Research Association 1999), as discussed in the "Validity and reliability" section.…”

Section: Research Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, we analyzed the subscales KAEVO-A (Kuschmierz et al 2020a), ATEVO (Beniermann 2019), and PERF (Beniermann 2019) of the EEQ. Unlike most instruments in this field of research (Kuschmierz et al 2020a)-these have been validated in the European context based on standards for educational and psychological testing (American Educational Research Association 1999), as discussed in the "Validity and reliability" section. Categories to enable the standardized interpretation of the results are available for all three instruments (Beniermann et al 2021b;Kuschmierz et al 2020a).…”

Section: Research Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Knowledge About Evolution 2.0 instrument (KAEVO 2.0; Kuschmierz et al 2020a) covers the most essential evolutionary topics, including microevolution and macroevolution. This version, and also its predecessor KAEVO 1.0, were used to measure knowledge about evolution in previous studies (KAEVO 1.0; Beniermann 2019, KAEVO 2.0; Kuschmierz et al 2020a, Torkar andŠorgo 2020).…”

Section: Knowledge About Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, there are some factors whose relationship with acceptance of evolution has only recently begun to be researched, for instance interest in evolution (Barnes et al 2021a). These differences in research findings reflect the intensely debated measurement issues in evolution education (Beniermann 2019; Barnes et al 2019;McCain and Kampourakis 2018;Mead et al 2019;Nehm and Mead 2019;Novick and Catley 2012;), such as the potential for biased results based on the measurement instruments used (Barnes et al 2019), neglect of measurement standards (Mead et al 2019), missing definitions of key constructs (Ha et al 2021b;Konnemann et al 2012;McCain and Kampourakis 2018), or a sole focus on natural selection while addressing the multidimensional construct of knowledge about evolution (Kuschmierz et al 2020a). Most research in evolution education has been conducted in the United States (e.g., Miller et al 2021), while there is comparably scarce empirical data on evolution acceptance and knowledge in Europe (Kuschmierz et al 2020b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

et al. 2021

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Background Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular, meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems, are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these deficits, we conducted a standardized European survey, on 9200 first-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, comprehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as well as influencing factors on evolution acceptance. Results We found that, despite European countries’ different cultural backgrounds and education systems, European first-year university students generally accept evolution. At the same time, they lack substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in a biology-related study program. Additionally, we developed a multilevel-model that determines religious faith as the main influencing factor in accepting evolution. According to our model, knowledge about evolution and interest in biological topics also increase acceptance of evolution, but to a much lesser extent than religious faith. The effect of age and sex, as well as the country’s affiliation, students’ denomination, and whether or not a student is enrolled in a biology-related university program, is negligible. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, despite all their differences, most of the European education systems for upper secondary education lead to acceptance of evolution at least in university students. It appears that, at least in this sample, the differences in knowledge between countries reflect neither the extent to which school curricula cover evolutionary biology nor the percentage of biology-related students in the country samples. Future studies should investigate the role of different European school curricula, identify particularly problematic or underrepresented evolutionary concepts in biology education, and analyze the role of religious faith when teaching evolution.

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Section: Research Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Knowledge About Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

et al. 2021

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“…Some researchers partially addressed this problem through the use of an inductive content analysis method, that is an analysis in which the coding scheme is designed based on the analysis of the curriculum and was not predefined based on a certain theoretical framework (e.g. Kuschmierz et al 2020) or based on mixed methods that included inductive and deductive analysis (Asghar et al 2015;Sanders and Makotsa 2016). Such research, although very helpful, lacked a framework for comparative analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE)

et al. 2021

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Evolution is a key concept of biology, fundamental to understand the world and address important societal problems, but research studies show that it is still not widely understood and accepted. Several factors are known to influence evolution acceptance and understanding, but little information is available regarding the impacts of the curriculum on these aspects. Very few curricula have been examined to assess the coverage of biological evolution. The available studies do not allow comparative analyses, due to the different methodologies employed by the authors. However, such an analysis would be useful for research purposes and for the development of appropriate educational policies to address the problem of a lack of evolution acceptance in some countries. In this paper we describe the steps through which we developed a valid and reliable instrument for curricula analysis known as FACE: “Framework to Assess the Coverage of biological Evolution by school curricula.” This framework was developed based on the “Understanding Evolution Conceptual Framework” (UECF). After an initial pilot study, our framework was reformulated based on identified issues and experts’ opinions. To generate validity and reliability evidence in support of the framework, it was applied to four European countries’ curricula. For each country, a team of a minimum of two national and two foreign coders worked independently to assess the curriculum using this framework for content analysis. Reliability evidence was estimated using Krippendorf's alpha and resulted in appropriate values for coding the examined curricula. Some issues that coders faced during the analysis were discussed and, to ensure better reliability for future researchers, additional guidelines and one extra category were included in the framework. The final version of the framework includes six categories and 34 subcategories. FACE is a useful tool for the analysis and the comparison of curricula and school textbooks regarding the coverage of evolution, and such results can guide curricula development.

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The research trends and contributions of science education during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A narrative systematic literature review of publications in selected journals

Susilayati,

Hardyanto,

Supriyadi

et al. 2024

Review of Education

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The COVID‐19 global pandemic was a socio‐scientific issue (SSI) that had an impact on various aspects of life including education. Educational institutions adapted to new learning, teaching and assessment approaches to be effective in responding to the pandemic. This study aims to determine the research trends and contributions of science education during the COVID‐19 pandemic in order to follow up on possible impacts and other crises in the future. The study involved a narrative systematic literature review of 898 articles published in three selected journals from 2018 to 2021. The analysis was divided into two stages. First, to compare research trends between 2018 and 2019 as the baseline with research trends for 2020–2021 during COVID‐19. Second, to systematically analyse the content of articles published between 2020 and 2021 to explore the contribution of science education amidst COVID‐19 descriptively. The results show that the empirical type of research during the COVID‐19 pandemic has increased compared to the baseline. Research topics on learning contexts dominate the baseline and amidst the pandemic, but ‘teaching’ topics are current and future trends in science education research. The three selected journals contributed many publications related to understanding and resolving the crisis during the COVID‐19 pandemic directly and indirectly. In addition, science education amidst COVID‐19 contributes to preparing the younger generation to become resilient citizens capable of dealing with crises. Direct evidence of preparing resilient citizens amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic is contributed by technological and pedagogical knowledge, content and context knowledge, futurising education, and student mobility programmes in science education. Furthermore, indirect evidence is contributed by science education publications published in the three selected journals between 2020 and 2021. Most publications are carried out at the high school level. More articles in the integrated sciences are published than in separate disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology and earth/space science. Furthermore, the details of research trends and contributions of science education amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic are discussed.

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Development and evaluation of the knowledge about evolution 2.0 instrument (KAEVO 2.0)

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment

Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE)

The research trends and contributions of science education during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A narrative systematic literature review of publications in selected journals

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