Ron Wagler

The Anthropocene Mass Extinction: An Emerging Curriculum Theme for Science Educators

ABSTRACT There have been five past great mass extinctions during the history of Earth. There is an ever-growing consensus within the scientific community that we have entered a sixth mass extinction. Human activities are associated directly or indirectly with nearly every aspect of this extinction. This article presents an overview of the five past great mass extinctions; an overview of the current Anthropocene mass extinction; past and present human activities associated with the current Anthropocene mass extinction; current and future rates of species extinction; and broad science-curriculum topics associated with the current Anthropocene mass extinction that can be used by science educators. These broad topics are organized around the major global, anthropogenic direct drivers of habitat modification, fragmentation, and destruction; overexploitation of species; the spread of invasive species and genes; pollution; and climate change.

Addressing the Lack of Measurement Invariance for the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution

The Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) was constructed to be a single-factor instrument that assesses an individuals overall acceptance of evolutionary theory. The MATE was validated and the scores resulting from the MATE were found to be reliable for the population of inservice high school biology teachers. However, many studies have utilized the MATE for different populations, such as university students enrolled in a biology or genetics course, high school students, and preservice teachers. This is problematic because the dimensionality and reliability of the MATE may not be consistent across populations. It is not uncommon in science education research to find examples where scales are applied to novel populations without proper assessment of the validity and reliability. In order to illustrate this issue, a case study is presented where the dimensionality of the MATE is evaluated for a population of non-science major preservice elementary teachers. With this objective in mind, factor analytic and item response models are fit to the observed data to provide evidence for or against a one-dimensional latent structure and to detect which items do not conform to the theoretical construct for this population. The results of this study call into question any findings and conclusions made using the MATE for a Hispanic population of preservice teachers and point out the error of assuming invariance across substantively different populations.

A Missing Link: K-4 Biological Evolution Content Standards

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) is one of the most influential documents in US science education. The NSES has been utilized by local schools and districts, state departments of education, and national curriculum groups to form the backbone for curriculum frameworks, programs, and assessment systems to guide science education. The NSES provides national biological evolution content standards for fifth grade through high school but not for kindergarten through fourth grade. This article presents K-4 biological evolution content standards that can be used in conjunction with the current NSES K-4 life science and earth science content standards, brief examples of integration activities using the K-4 biological evolution content standards, and supplemental teacher information for the K-4 biological evolution content standards. The biological evolution content standards and the additional materials can guide teachers when teaching biological evolution to K-4th grade students.

Assessing “The Framework” for Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade Biological Evolution

The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council 1996) was one of the most influential documents in the history of United States (U.S.) science education and guided science educators for well over a decade (Carin et al. 2005). In early 2010, experts in education and science came together to develop a new document that identified “the key scientific practices, concepts and ideas that all students should learn by the time they complete high school” (National Academies 2011). In July of 2011, this document entitled, “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas” (National Research Council 2011), was released (National Academies 2011). “A key purpose for the framework is to serve as the basis for new science education standards” (National Academies 2011). The framework is also meant to be utilized by science education curriculum and assessment developers, preservice teacher programs, and those that construct professional development materials—district and state science supervisors and those that work in informal science education settings (National Academies 2011). “The framework lays out broadly the core ideas and practices that students should learn, and the standards will build upon that foundation, explaining in detail what students should learn at various grade levels” (National Academies 2011). Now that the framework has been completed, the development of the new standards (i.e., Next Generation Science Standards [Achieve Inc. 2011]) will be led by a group of states coordinated by Achieve Inc. (2011), a nonprofit education organization (National Academies 2011). “The release of the Next Generation Science Standards is expected in Fall 2012, with public drafts available in winter 2011/12 and summer of 2012” (Achieve Inc. 2011). When the standards are complete, states will voluntarily adopt the standards to “guide science education in their public schools” (National Academies 2011).

The Impact of Human Activities on Biological Evolution: A Topic of Consideration for Evolution Educators

There is a definitive need, at all science education levels, to strongly emphasize the central anthropogenic role humans now play in current evolutionary processes and biosphere impact. This article presents a brief overview of recent human activities; broad examples of the impact of human activities on biological evolution; a general overview and specific examples of incorporating human activities into evolution education; and further online anthropogenic resources that can be incorporated into educational settings.

Using Science Teaching Case Narratives to Evaluate the Level of Acceptance of Scientific Inquiry Teaching in Preservice Elementary Teachers

The National Science Education Standards have outlined flexible processes children perform when engaging in scientific inquiry. Cases narratives are a common component of many university science education courses but rarely are they used as a tool to evaluate the preservice teachers within these courses. This article describes the construction of a positive and negative science teaching case narrative. These case narratives can be used to evaluate the level of acceptance of scientific inquiry teaching in preservice elementary teachers.

Foucault, the Consumer Culture and Environmental Degradation

Michel Foucaults theories and their relevance to ‘consumer culture’ and environmental degradation are considered. Specifically, Foucaults theory of power/knowledge and biopower are considered in light of current consumption rates among global consumer cultures and their link to trends in global environmental degradation. Lastly, Foucaults theory of resistance is suggested as a mechanism for environmental sustainability.

Beliefs about Future Curriculum: How Avoidance Emotions Affect Curriculum Choice in Science

This article investigates how emotions of avoidance affect curriculum choice in a science classroom and also evaluates a research-based social form of learning for changing emotions of avoidance towards a specific science topic (arachnids) for a population of preservice teachers. It was found that there is a strong invariant structural relationship between emotions of avoidance and beliefs about incorporation of science concepts about arachnids. However, participation in the arachnid learning activities decreased emotions of avoidance and increased beliefs about incorporation into a science classroom. The implications of these findings are that social forms of learning can change avoidance emotions and beliefs of teachers and may even be effective for addressing other classroom topics that are socially sensitive, such as biological evolution or climate change.

Incorporating the current sixth great mass extinction theme into evolution education, science education, and environmental education research and standards

Humanity is currently in the midst of a self-induced great mass extinction of plant and animal life that is having and will have profound effects on the future biological evolution of Earth’s species if environmental sustainability is not reached. A thorough review of existing evolution education, science education, and environmental education research and existing evolution education, science education, and environmental education standards reveal that this newly emerging and crucially important theme has yet to be incorporated into these two areas which strongly influence future curriculum development and implementation. This manuscript presents: a brief overview of the five past great mass extinctions; a brief overview of past and present human activities associated with the current sixth great mass extinction; a brief overview of present and future rates of species extinctions and their influence on biological evolution; and a brief appeal to begin to incorporate the current sixth great mass extinction theme into evolution education, science education, and environmental education research and standards.

Fear and Disgust of Spiders: Factors that Limit University Preservice Middle School Science Teachers

Spiders perform many essential ecological services, yet humans often experience negative emotions toward spiders. These emotions can lead to the avoidance of beneficial events. These emotions may affect beliefs about what should or should not be included in a science curriculum. This study investigated how activities with living spiders affected preservice middle school science teachers’ emotions and beliefs. Prior to the activities both groups (i.e., treatment and control) had moderate to extreme fear and disgust toward the spider. The teachers that participated in the spider activities (i.e., treatment group) had much lower levels of fear and disgust after performing the spider activities than the control group that did not participate in the spider activities. The control group continued to have elevated levels of fear and disgust toward the spider throughout the study. Before the spider activities neither group planned to incorporate information about spiders or information about the essential ecological services of spiders into their science classroom. After the treatment group participated in the spider activities, the teachers had definitive plans to teach their students about spiders and the essential ecological services that they provide. The control group remained unchanged and had no plans to teach this information to their students.