Student World View

And Evolution

Emory University June 2003 Wes McCoy

North Cobb High SchoolKennesaw, Georgia

Today’s Focus

• Fear

• Teaching methods

• Resources for teaching about evolution

• Understanding students and world views

What do I do if….?

• If all beings evolved by mistakes in DNA, why are mistakes in DNA deadly? Why is nothing evolving today? Why is evolution being taught as fact when it is only a hypothesis?

• If all cells come from other cells, how does a cell come from nothing? These evolutionists are proving themselves wrong and America will hear about it. Evolution is a lie.

Based on Kearney’s World View Model (1984)

Self NonSelf

Time Space

Classification

Causality

Relationship

World View

• Anthropology: World view consists of the underlying presuppositions upon which all perceptions are based…shared ideas which provide the basis for day-to-day activity within a culture.

World view differs from belief.Beliefs are explicitly taught and learned,

and can usually be discussed.

Examples of World View

• Ticklish vs NonTicklish

• Reading a book is like having a conversation vs book haters

• Teaching English as a Second language: Easter

Classification

• Photo sorting for classification

Sample cladograms

Sample cladogram

Assertions:Classification

• Students use scientifically unconventional criteria when classifying animals and humans.

• Physical structures (hairiness)• Behaviors (flying, care of young)• Location (habitat)• Communication (with humans or with each

other)

Assertions:Classification

• Students do not all understand the term “related” in the same way.

• Physical similarity• Act the same way• Communicate with each other• Hang around together• Used to be alike in the past, along the

bloodline.

Assertions:Causality

• These students all believe that natural processes are planned by a Creator and can be controlled by supernatural intervention.

• Therefore, students view events as being unconnected…they have difficulty seeing PATTERNS in nature

Assertions:Cause of Evolution• Students understand evolution poorly, in terms of

environmental pressure forcing a “need” to change.

• None recognized mutation as a cause of variation.

• None recognized evolution in microorganisms.• They believe that evolution, when it occurs, is

caused by the deliberate intentions of animals.

Assertions:Evolution

• Students do not all understand terminology the way scientists might:

• Related, relationship• Genetic, inherited.• Species, population, mutation.• Adaptation• Evolve: meaning planned or intentional

change

Penny on Evolution• “I guess like you could start off with legs or

something, and then if you swam in the water and didn’t really need legs, you’d just kind of wiggled around to propel yourself through the water... I guess your legs would keep getting shorter and shorter, things would get smaller and smaller, and eventually I guess they wouldn’t come out with legs since they didn’t have any use for them.”

Assertions: Causality

• Students believe the natural world to be unpredictable.

• They see few patterns in the living world.

• Each phenomenon is seen as a unique event.

• Evolution happens “sometimes”, if at all, rather than a universal phenomenon that occurs for all species.

Causality: Separate Worlds

• Students often kept their view of the natural world separate from their views of how things “really work”.

• There is a strong division between “everyday thinking” and “scientific thinking”.

Julie on Evolution• Me: Do you think that is a pretty accurate

idea of where we came from?

• Julie: Yes

• Me: Does the chart show what really happened?

• Julie: Yeah

• Me: What do you think are the origins of humans? Where do you think people came from?

Julie on Evolution (cont.)

• Julie: Um, I don’t know. I mean you mean about God? Or scientifically?

• Me: Whatever you think is true.

• Julie: I think they came from God.

• Me: How do you think people got here?

• Julie: God put them here….He made them from like clay and stuff.

Darlene on Science & Religion

• “I know that there’s other possibilities. I know that scientists they can be right. Just cause they’re not Christians or something doesn’t mean they can’t be right. It just means, you know, they might believe that they got here by God. I mean, God had to get it here some way and so they could be right, too.”

Assertions:Social Pressures

• Some students were emboldened by an audience.

• Other students suppressed and even altered their stated opinions in the presence of peers.

• Students hold implicit theories of the world that are based as much on personal feeling as thinking.

Cultural Views of the Natural World

• World view coevolves with the complex network of social practices that bind a community together.

• Each student explained the natural world based on their own personal experience as a student, an adolescent, a religious person, a person who cares for animals, and as a potentially powerful adult.

Science & Everyday Thinking• Students separate scientific thinking from

everyday thinking.

• Changing your mind in science is not simply a matter of rational decision making; it is a social process with social consequences.

• Science is perceived as a culture which may require us to reject other aspects of our identity.

Marginalized by World View?

• Anyone for whom science is threatening or difficult to understand could be marginalized.

• Limited access to references.

• Few role models.

• Lower career expectations.

• Restrictive religious backgrounds.

In the Classroom

• Assertion: Most 9th grade students have never been formally taught about evolution.

• Be aware of student world view and the threats posed by scientific thinking.

• Use the language and terminology of students sometimes when trying to explain processes.

• Avoid statements that might threaten non-scientific students.

• Avoid the debate or discussion of personal beliefs.

In the School Board• My school district (Cobb County, Georgia) wrote

a new regulation to allow the “discussion of disputed views of origin.”

• Hundreds of citizens now think that teachers are allowed to teach “Intelligent Design” creationism in the science classroom.

• I personally advocate very strong state science standards which include evolution and the “nature of science.”

Teaching About Evolution

• Plan and experience controlled experiments.

Understand other methods of science

Understand the provisional nature of science.

“Science and Non-Science Activity”

Agree or Disagree?

• Rice is no longer thrown at weddings because birds eating rice will swell up and die.

• Roads built in national parks can endanger species

Earthworms come to the surface during rainstorms since they will drown if they remain underground.

The President has the power to stop road building in national parks.

John Lennon is a better composer than Beethoven.

Experience LIFE

• E.coli, bioluminescent fungi, slime mold, Paramecium, crayfish, leeches, sea urchins, clams, radish, corn, beans, fish, mice……….

• AND FOSSILS….REAL ONES

Frequency Distributions:Variation in Species

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

12mm

16mm

20mm

Seed #

• Each student measures 100 pumpkin seeds in mm.

• Count how many are 12 mm, 13 mm, 14 mm, 15 mm, etc.

• Fill tubes with seeds and stack them….build a frequency distribution.

Students write and Talk about Mutations

• Development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

• Development of pesticide resistance in insects.

Natural Selection Activities

• Table top Islands with student predators

• Groups have a predator, a time keeper, a recorder, and a baby counter.

• Run groups through 4 generations.

• Graph results with three lines over time.

• THEN, students compare results on each other’s islands.

Solve a Language Problem

• Use more common language.

• EXAMPLE: When describing Lamarck’s ideas, tell students that he thought “animals could try to change and pass the changes on to the babies” rather than “inheritance of acquired characteristics”.

The Elephant in the Classroom

• Encourage discussion (but not debate) of religion.

• It is important that students understand that most people view religion as a valid way to explore the world.

• Have them find out their own minister’s views on evolution and explain that there is a CONTINUUM of belief.

What is a rainbow?

• Light refracted through water droplets.

• A sign of God’s covenant promises.

Reliability of Sources

Weekly World News

Atlanta Journal/Constitution

Time and Newsweek,

National Geographic

Science (AAAS) and NAS

At All Times• Honor the integrity of each student’s

views…. Use professional judgment.

• “Ordinary” people are perfectly capable of conducting scientific investigations.

• Preset plans often do not work: BE RESPONSIVE

• Tolerate a little uncertainty and fear will dissipate.

At All Times• Create opportunities in a culture of

openness.

• If you think that everyone believes that evolution and religion are not compatible, you haven’t been talking to enough people.

GCISE

• Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science

• www.georgiascience.org

American Association for the Advancement of Science

• www.aaas.org

• Official Resolution about Intelligent Design Theory