Brian Alters

Biology Professors’ and Teachers’ Positions Regarding Biological Evolution and Evolution Education in a Middle Eastern Society

This study investigated three questions: (1) What are Lebanese secondary school (Grade 9–12) biology teachers’ and university biology professors’ positions regarding biological evolution?, (2) How do participants’ religious affiliations relate to their positions about evolutionary science?, and (3) What are participants’ positions regarding evolution education? Participants were 20 secondary school biology teachers and seven university biology professors. Seventy percent of the teachers and 60% of the professors were Muslim. Data came from semi‐structured interviews with participants. Results showed that nine (Christian or Muslim Druze) teachers accepted the theory, five (four Muslim) rejected it because it contradicted religious beliefs, and three (Muslim) reinterpreted it because evolution did not include humans. Teachers who rejected or reinterpreted the evolutionary theory said that it should not be taught (three), evolution and creationism should be given equal time (two), or students should be allowed to take their own stand. Two professors indicated that they taught evolution explicitly and five said that they integrated it in other biology content. One Muslim professor said that she stressed ‘the role of God in creation during instruction on evolution’. It seems that years of studying and teaching biology have not had a transformative effect on how a number of teachers and professors think about evolution.

The origin and evolution of life in Pakistani High School Biology

This study seeks to inform science education practitioners and researchers in the West about apparent attempts to reconcile science and religion in Pakistans public school curriculum. We analysed the national high school science curriculum and biology textbooks (English) used in the Government schools in Pakistan, where Islamic faith is the cornerstone of the national curriculum, and we found that both religious and scientific perspectives are treated in relation to the origin and evolution of life. The religious text presented in the curriculum draws on the relevant Quranic verses about creation, while the scientific text discusses naturalistic, evidence-based theories about the biochemical origin of life and evolution. Evolution by natural selection is discussed in detail along with the evidence supporting the scientific understanding of evolutionary history. Interestingly, where scripture is presented in the biology textbooks, it is generally interpreted to be compatible with evolutionary understandings of the living world.

Clicking for grades? Really? Investigating the use of clickers for awarding grade-points in post-secondary education

Using classroom response systems (clickers) to accumulate grade-points has become a controversial practice as response systems have become more widely used in the last decade. Although some instructors opt to use clickers on a non-grades basis, it has become quite common to reward students for (a) correct answers, (b) participating in clicker questions regardless of whether their answer is correct or incorrect, and (c) a combination of participation and correctness. Here, we discuss the appropriateness of using clickers for accumulating grade-points in academia and address two of the most common concerns raised with such practices: technology failure and cheating. The paucity of literature on clicker technology failure suggests that it is more sensationalized than real. Cheating remains a real issue, but can be minimized by educating students about clicker-related cheating policies and by staying away from high-stakes clicker-based testing. Research and expert opinion leads us to believe that the appropriateness of using clickers for accumulating grades depends on how they are used. We recommend rewarding students for giving correct answers or for participating in high-value constructivist learning activities. Rewarding students with participation grade-points for incorrect answers to trivia-style or simple-factual questions should be avoided because it primarily serves to reward students for their attendance in class.

Apprehension and Pedagogy in Evolution Education

Instructors’ apprehensions and the decisions instructors make about pedagogy are often linked when it comes to teaching evolution. Whether it is the reticence of K-12 teachers that their instruction may affect their students’ religious beliefs detrimentally or that they may become caught up in some administrative, media, parental, or school political turmoil or whether it is the apprehension of college students who perceive that their religious beliefs are being explicitly challenged, such fears can be reduced by understanding their roots and by honing pedagogy in ways that reduce perceived threats. This article describes why it is prudent to address these often secretly held apprehensions and how to help instructors feel free to employ their best pedagogical methods to teach evolution without lingering fear. Some suggestions are given for pre-college and college instructors interested in combining effective pedagogy with as little perceived threat as possible. Methods are offered that allow instructors to focus on underlying scientific misconceptions even if those misconceptions are ultimately facilitated by non-scientific sources, while giving creationist or creationist-leaning students a chance to learn the appropriate scientific conceptions without their religious beliefs being explicitly threatened in a science course.