Although differently formatted cladograms (hierarchical diagrams depicting evolutionary relationships among taxa) depict the same information, they may not be equally easy to comprehend. Undergraduate biology students attempted to translate cladograms from the diagonal to the rectangular format. The "backbone" line of each diagonal…

Originally designed for K-12 teachers, the Understanding Evolution (UE) Web site ("www.understandingevolution.org") is a one-stop shop for all of a teacher's evolution education needs, with lesson plans, teaching tips, lists of common evolution misconceptions, and much more. However, during the past five years, the UE project team learned that…

The story of biology is far more complex and fascinating than straightforward facts or neatly labeled diagrams of structures and systems. Although exams can motivate students, the key to using these extrinsic motivators to increase student understanding lies in the way the assessments are designed and what they measure. Those involved in…

Many studies have assessed whether and to what degree students (grade-schoolers to undergraduates), teachers, and the public in general accept and understand evolution. However, very little information has been available about the level of understanding of students pursuing an advanced postgraduate degree in science. The study discussed in this…

The responses of biology majors in their first year of college differed significantly from those of first-year non-biology majors on only 3 of the 20 items on the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution survey instrument. Despite these differences, and regardless of whether students were or were not biology majors, several findings from…