Students' perceptions of the nature of evolutionary theory

This study explored how some college students understand the nature of the theory of evolution and how they evaluate its scientific status. We conducted semistructured interviews with 15 college biology seniors in which we asked them to explain why they think evolution assumes the status of a scient...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science education (Salem, Mass.) Mass.), 2005-05, Vol.89 (3), p.378-391
Main Authors: Dagher, Zoubeida R., Boujaoude, Saouma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
College students
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
Educational sciences
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Exact and natural sciences
Interviews
Misconceptions
Perceptions
Physical Sciences
Prediction
Science education
Semi Structured Interviews
Student Attitudes
Student Reaction
Teaching Methods
Theories
Theory
Undergraduate Students
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study explored how some college students understand the nature of the theory of evolution and how they evaluate its scientific status. We conducted semistructured interviews with 15 college biology seniors in which we asked them to explain why they think evolution assumes the status of a scientific theory, how it compares to other scientific theories, and what criteria do they use to determine if an explanation is scientific or not. Students' responses encompassed five themes that include evidence, certainty, experimentation, method of theory generation, and prediction. Those themes focused on the theory's empirical dimension which seemed to be derived from a generic and simplistic model of physical science theories that valued direct evidence. Demanding that evolutionary theory conform to this model reveals a misunderstanding of its nature. This misunderstanding was expressed in relation to aspects of methodology, explanation, and prediction. The findings underscore the need for using explicit discipline‐ and context‐specific approaches to teaching and learning about scientific theories. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:378–391, 2005
ISSN:0036-8326
1098-237X
DOI:10.1002/sce.20054