Teaching materials frequently answer objections to evolution by demarcating science from religion. Because definitions of science shaped by demarcation tend to magnify its empirical features, they weaken students' understanding of science's theoretical dimension. Demarcation fails to answer creationism for the opposite reason; by insisting that…

Research demonstrates that teachers' acceptance or rejection of evolution impacts whether they teach evolution in their classrooms. Furthermore, factors such as religiosity and nature of science understanding impact acceptance or rejection. What is absent from the literature is an exploration of experiences that inform choices made regarding…

In this manuscript, three science educators describe strategies used to effectively communicate about religiously and culturally sensitive science content and share lessons learned from their experiences. Mark A. Bloom (2019-2021 Fellow) describes the challenges he overcame in teaching climate change science at an evangelical university by…

We describe how the increased level of religiosity in the United States is correlated with the resistance to the teaching of evolution and argue that this is a social, rather than scientific, issue. Our goal is to foster teachers' understanding of the philosophy of biology and encourage them to proactively deal with creationism at all levels,…

In this study, we explored the factors related to acceptance of evolutionary theory among students/preservice preschool education teachers using conceptual ecology for biological evolution as a theoretical frame. We aimed to examine the acceptance and understanding of evolutionary theory and also the relationship of acceptance and understanding of…

In this study, we explored some of the factors related to the acceptance of evolution theory among Greek university students training to be teachers in early childhood education, using conceptual ecology for biological evolution as a theoretical framework. We examined the acceptance of evolution theory and we also looked into the relationship…

Science instructors, even at the college level, are routinely confronted with two facts about their students. First, most of their students have a poor understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Second, many of their students have religious objections to particular scientific theories that seem to cripple their ability to learn about, or even…

Scholarship that addresses teaching and learning about evolution has rapidly increased in recent years. This review of that scholarship first addresses the philosophical/epistemological issues that impinge on teaching and learning about evolution, including the proper philosophical goals of evolution instruction; the correlational and possibly…

Although a well-corroborated scientific theory, the theory of evolution has continued to cause dilemmas for some individuals who have not easily been able to accommodate the concepts of this theory within their cognitive culture. The reason lies in the overlap of some ideas that the theory advocates with other social, epistemological, and…

In his article "Scientists at Play in a Field of the Lord", David Long (2010) rightly challenges our presumptions of what science is and brings forth some of the disjunctures between science and deeply held American religious beliefs. Reading his narrative of the conflicts that he experienced on the opening day of the Creation Museum, I cannot…

Discussing themes from my paper "Scientists at play in a field of the Lord," three forum participants identify and discuss continuing social and epistemological issues which continue to challenge effective evolution education. I extend these themes and further amplify the vexing nature of an effective dialectic regarding evolution, especially for…

The Answers in Genesis Creation Museum opened in May of 2007. During the opening day, a loosely affiliated group of scientists joined in a Rally for Reason as they termed it to protest the museum's potential effect on science in the United States. This paper discusses ethnographic data collected before and during the rally. Scientist narratives…

This study took place during a First Year Seminar course where 20 incoming college freshmen studied the central topic of the nature of science within the context of biological evolution. The instructor researched students' understandings in the nature of science as they progressed through the course by examining a variety of qualitative and…

In Oregon, biology teachers have a definite understanding of the nature of science and the theory of evolution. These understandings translate into a significant presentation of the theory of evolution in their classrooms.

In this paper I respond to Long's paper in which he uses an ethnographic snapshot of a rally of scientists against the perceived "dumbing down" effect of the new Answers in Genesis Museum in Kentucky to raise educational concerns about the effects of creationist influence on the science curriculum in American schools. In my response I…