The effects of religious views and creationism on teleological reasoning, acceptance and understanding of natural selection: a preliminary mixed-methods study

Abstract

Background Creationist religious views have a large influence on the public’s views and learning related to evolution, especially human evolution. Creationism has been shown to reinforce students’ design teleological stance, which creates a challenging conceptual obstacle for learning evolution. The purpose of the current study was to determine if students with creationist views responded differently to education intended to directly challenge design teleological reasoning in the context of a human evolution course, compared to students with naturalist views. In a convergent mixed methods design this study combined pre- and post-semester quantitative survey data (N = 48) on student endorsement of teleological reasoning, acceptance of evolution (Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance), and understanding of natural selection (Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection), with a thematic analysis of student reflective writing on their understanding and acceptance of natural selection and teleological reasoning. Results This study found that students with creationist views had higher levels of design teleological reasoning and lower levels of acceptance of evolution at the beginning of the semester, compared to students with naturalist views (p < 0.01). Students with creationist views experienced significant (p < 0.01) improvements in teleological reasoning and acceptance of human evolution. While the changes in teleological reasoning, understanding and acceptance experienced by students with creationist views were similar in magnitude to changes in students with naturalist views, creationists never achieved levels of evolution understanding and acceptance seen in students with naturalist views. Multiple linear regression showed that student religiosity was a significant predictor of understanding of evolution, while having creationist views was a predictor of acceptance of evolution. Thematic analysis revealed that more students believed that religion and evolution are incompatible than compatible. However, more than one-third of students expressed openness to learning about evolution alongside their religious views. Conclusions Students with creationist views made gains on nearly all measures, but significantly underperformed their counterparts with natural views. For many students, religiosity and creationism challenge their thinking about evolution. This paper describes pedagogical practices to help students understand their own teleological reasoning and support students with creationist views who are learning about evolution.