“I Think that Teachers Do Not Teach Evolution Because It Is Complicated”: Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Evolution in Israel

Abstract

The conflict between acceptance and disapproval of evolution has led to obstacles in its teaching and learning. Other difficulties, such as both teachers’ and students’ alternative perceptions, student maturity in the face of learning this complicated topic, and teachers’ gaps in evolution knowledge, add to the difficulties in teaching and learning evolution. The aim of this study was to grasp the difficulties in the teaching and learning of evolution perceived by curriculum writers compared to those perceived by in-service junior high school science and technology teachers and high school biology teachers in Israel. The findings revealed a wide range of perceived difficulties in the teaching and learning of evolution, mainly in the fields of religion, teacher and student knowledge, student maturity, and alternative perceptions. A questionnaire distributed among in-service Israeli teachers added strength to interviews with the curriculum writers, with both referring to some of the same difficulties. However, some difficulties were heard only in the interviews. Curriculum writers were more concerned with questions of faith that teaching evolution raises, whereas in-service teachers were concerned with their students’ difficulties in understanding natural selection and mutational randomness. Teacher-training programs that focus on teachers’ lack of evolution knowledge and on pedagogical skills, as well as the design of teaching materials that take into account these difficulties, are recommended for future research.