Transforming in-service high school biology teachers’ acceptance of evolution through professional development

Abstract

Background: Evolution plays a significant role in the understanding of biology. Educators must acknowledge the importance of this theory for effective biology teaching, but there are several educational gaps both in the classroom and in in-service teachers that need to be addressed to help improve the acceptance and understanding of the theory of evolution. In this study, the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) was translated, adapted, and evidence was gathered for its use with Spanish-speakers, as means to study how in-service teachers’ acceptance of the theory of evolution changes after participating in a professional development program (PD), framed in the genome-to-phenome overarching theme. Results: Evidence was gathered to evaluate content validity, response process, internal structure, and reliability of the MATE instrument for it use with Spanish speakers (i.e., MATE-E). A pilot test was conducted, enabling an Exploratory Factor Analysis to be performed. Five factors were identified. When administered to teachers that participated in a PD program, descriptive statistics showed that all teachers had higher scores in the posttest. A Wilcoxon matched pairs and signed ranks test produced a Zscore of -2.023 and a p value of .043. Conclusions: MATE’s translation to Spanish, as well as its adaptation, and the evidence-gathering process for the instrument’s possible use with Spanish-speaking participants are discussed. A PD was implemented to develop concepts related to the theory of evolution for in-service teachers. MATE-E was administered to five teachers before and after participating in the PD program. A Wilcoxon matched pairs and signed ranks test was carried out to test if treatment was effective in changing their acceptance of the theory of evolution. The null hypothesis was rejected; and it can be confirmed that the treatment was both significant and positive in changing participants’ acceptance of the theory of evolution.