Relationship between Achievement and Students' Acceptance of Evolution or Creation in an Upper-Level Evolution Course.

Students often hold strong attitudes regarding topics they encounter during their studies, and many instructors feel that these attitudes can have strong effects on students' performance. We characterized students' attitudes toward evolution and investigated the influence of students' attitudes (pre-course and post-course) regarding evolution on their performance in an evolution course, measured as their final grade. We found our students to hold positive attitudes toward evolution; these attitudes became more positive following the course. The most significant change in attitude occurred in the group of students initially undecided toward evolution. We also found that attitudes prior to the course had little influence on later achievement; however, at the end of the course, students' attitudes were positively related to final grades, although the effect was small. We argue that pedagogical techniques directly addressing students' attitudes help reduce the influence of attitudes (especially prior attitudes) on achievement. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 7–24, 2006

[1]  M. Klymkowsky,et al.  Bioliteracy and teaching efficacy: what biologists can learn from physicists. , 2003, Cell biology education.

[2]  Anton E. Lawson,et al.  Learning about evolution and rejecting a belief in special creation: Effects of reflective reasoning skill, prior knowledge, prior belief and religious commitment , 1992 .

[3]  Victor L. Willson,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Science Achievement and Science Attitude: Kindergarten through College. , 1983 .

[4]  John Z. Kiss,et al.  Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Creation/Evolution Controversy Brian J. Alters Sandra Alters , 2001 .

[5]  Murray S. Jensen,et al.  Teaching evolution using historical arguments in a conceptual change strategy , 1995 .

[6]  Michael P. Freedman.  Relationship among Laboratory Instruction, Attitude toward Science, and Achievement in Science Knowledge. , 1997 .

[7]  T. Lord,et al.  How University Students View the Theory of Evolution. , 1993 .

[8]  Elizabeth C. Doster,et al.  Hearts and minds in the science classroom: The education of a confirmed evolutionist , 1995 .

[9]  A. Lawson.  Predicting science achievement: The role of developmental level, disembedding ability, mental capacity, prior knowledge, and beliefs , 1983 .

[10]  G. Norman,et al.  Development and Evaluation of the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection , 2002 .

[11]  B. Hufnagel,et al.  Development of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test , 2001 .

[12]  Ronald D. Simpson,et al.  Attitudes of introductory college biology students toward evolution , 1982 .

[13]  Brian Alters,et al.  PERSPECTIVE: TEACHING EVOLUTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION , 2002, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[14]  Cesar O. Malave,et al.  Cross‐time attitudes, concept formation, and achievement in college freshman physics , 2000 .

[15]  M. Rutledge,et al.  The Development and Validation of the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution Instrument , 1999 .

[16]  Zoubeida R. Dagher,et al.  Scientific views and religious beliefs of college students: The case of biological evolution , 1997 .

[17]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[18]  P. Fuerst.  University Student Understanding of Evolutionary Biology's Place in the Creation/Evolution Theory , 1984 .

[19]  Sarah K. Brem,et al.  Perceived consequences of evolution: College students perceive negative personal and social impact in evolutionary theory , 2003 .

[20]  E. Scott.  The Creation/Evolution Continuum. , 2001 .

[21]  T. Koballa.  Attitude and related concepts in science education , 1988 .

[22]  Steve Olson.  Evolution in Hawaii: A Supplement to 'Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science' , 2004 .

[23]  W. McKeachie,et al.  Creationist vs. Evolutionary Beliefs: Effects on Learning Biology , 2002 .

[24]  Luanne R. Gogolin,et al.  A quantitative and qualitative inquiry into the attitudes toward science of nonscience college students , 1992 .

[25]  Charles W. Anderson,et al.  Student conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution , 1986 .

[26]  W. W. Cobern.  Comments and criticism. Point: Belief, understanding, and the teaching of evolution , 2007 .

[27]  R. Hake.  Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses , 1998 .

[28]  Gayle Nicoll,et al.  An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Student Performance in Physical Chemistry , 2001 .

[29]  M. R. Matthews,et al.  Belief, Knowledge, and Science Education , 2001 .

[30]  Anton E. Lawson,et al.  The Rejection of Nonscientific Beliefs about Life: Effects of Instruction and Reasoning Skills. , 1990 .

[31]  D. Hestenes,et al.  Force concept inventory , 1992 .

[32]  Sherry A. Southerland,et al.  Intentions and beliefs in students' understanding and acceptance of biological evolution , 2003 .

[33]  R. Cooper.  The Goal of Evolution Instruction: Should We Aim for Belief or Scientific Literacy?. , 2001 .

[34]  Ronald L. Johnson,et al.  The Role of Scientific Understanding in College: Student Acceptance of Evolution , 1987 .

[35]  Lawrence C. Scharmann.  Enhancing an Understanding of the Premises of Evolutionary Theory: The Influence of a Diversified Instructional Strategy , 1990 .

[36]  Mike U. Smith.  Counterpoint: Belief, understanding, and the teaching of evolution , 2007 .

[37]  R. Gadagkar.  Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution , 2005 .

[38]  P. Lachenbruch.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.) , 1989 .