Lisa A. Borgerding

Evolution Education Around the Globe: Conclusions and Future Directions

The twenty-two chapter contributions in this book paint a portrait of evolution education across six continents. The range of religions, geography, relationship to evolutionary theory, education systems, and teacher education systems is broad, and yet some consistent issues and opportunities unite evolution education efforts across these diverse regions. This concluding chapter is organized around the six requested elements by directly comparing and contrasting the information presented in each chapter. We conclude this chapter with some general comments about the place of evolution education within the broader discourse of these countries and offer some future directions for the evolution education community.

Evolutionary Theory as a Controversial Topic in Science Curriculum Around the Globe

Evolutionary theory is considered as one of the greatest scientific achievements in history of science on par with the theory of heliocentricism, general and specific relativity, and the theory of plate tectonics. However, public controversy over teaching evolutionary theory urges science educators to consider conceptual, epistemic, worldview/religious, and social/cultural factors simultaneously when teaching about evolutionary theory. In this book, we aimed to explore the influence of social and cultural domain on evolution education.