Altering college students’ misconceptions of evolution requires addressing views that evolution and religion are in conflict

Background/Question/Methods

National polls over the past 30 years show that just over one-third of all U.S. citizens agree that living have evolved due to natural processes. While several studies have implicated that religious belief and political leanings are correlates of acceptance of evolution, relatively little research has explored how students’ attitudes towards evolution influence their learning of evolutionary biology.  More detailed knowledge of college students’ attitudes toward evolution may help instructors develop more effective pedagogies to address misconceptions about evolution.  We surveyed 77 students at the beginning and end of an introductory biology course at Transylvania University, a liberal arts college in Kentucky.  The survey was designed to measure students’ knowledge and misconceptions of evolution as well as their attitudes toward evolutionary science, their political and religious orientations, and their level of education (generally and with regard to evolution). We hypothesized that one semester of instruction would increase students’ knowledge of evolution, decrease evolutionary misconceptions, and have little impact on students’ attitudes. We further hypothesized that students who held the view that science and religion are in conflict would see less gains in evolutionary knowledge than students who viewed science and religion as compatible.

Results/Conclusions

Initial scores for correct evolutionary knowledge were relatively high (77% correct) at the beginning of the term and did not significantly change after a semester of instruction (78%, p>0.1) while students’ misconceptions of evolution marginally, but significantly, decreased (pre: 55 vs. post: 52; p=0.02).  Over the course of the semester there was a decrease in agreement with opinion statements that contradict evolutionary fact (p<0.001) and a marginal decrease in the view that science and religion are in conflict (p=0.06).  In a stepwise multiple regression, the change in students’ misconceptions was explained by pre-term misconceptions (β=-0.84, p<0.001), post-term science/religion conflict attitudes (β=0.505, p<0.001), and post-term opinions inconsistent with evolutionary fact (β=0.44, p<0.01).  Questions that were most highly positively correlated with end term misconceptions included ‘I am afraid to study science because it is opposed by my faith’ (p<0.001, r=0.64); ‘People who accept evolution are not moral’ (p <0.0001, r=0.67); and ‘If you accept evolution, you can’t believe in God’ (p<0.0001, r=0.57). These results suggest that directly addressing students’ concerns about the conflict of evolution and their faith may lead to greater reductions in evolutionary misconceptions and greater increases in correct evolutionary knowledge.