Evolutionary medicine is a growing area of research and practice; however, it is not widely discussed in introductory biology courses. Because of the interest in human biology, using evolutionary medicine is a great way to hold students' interest, placing topics in context, making the subject of evolution relevant. Too often students lose interest…

This article draws from primary and secondary historical sources such as public policy documents, speeches, and media reports to trace attempts made by the Kentucky legislature to ban controversial topics in public school curriculum--evolution in 1922 and critical race theory in 2022. Kingdon's multiple streams framework (MSF) serves as the model…

Evolutionary theory is fundamental to biology, yet evolution instruction in high schools has often been unsatisfactory. How or whether high school biology teachers teach evolution is influenced by their own acceptance or rejection of evolutionary theory, parents' and community members' views, and in the case of some private schools, their…

The conflict between acceptance and disapproval of evolution has led to obstacles in its teaching and learning. Other difficulties, such as both teachers' and students' alternative perceptions, student maturity in the face of learning this complicated topic, and teachers' gaps in evolution knowledge, add to the difficulties in teaching and…

The central importance of evolution to all biological sciences is recognised by many authors. Despite this scientific consensus, the theory of evolution is commonly presented as one discrete topic among many in the biology curriculum. Possible reasons for this scenario include discomfort with the content, ideological opposition and teachers'…

The teaching of key scientific topics such as evolution are imperative for scientific literacy, but educators face pressure to eliminate or downplay these topics due to perceived controversy. Although teachers usually bear the burden of ensuring that these topics are taught appropriately, some of this responsibility must also fall upon…

Both evolution and climate change have broad scientific consensus, and yet they are the most contested scientific concepts in the US K-12 education system. This study aimed to explore trends in proposed US state legislation employed from 2003 to 2023 by anti-evolution and anti-climate change education movements to constrain the teaching of these…

The United States still has one of the lowest evolution acceptance rates in the world. Biology educators have been diligent in their methods to increase evolution acceptance and knowledge, with much success. However, misconceptions still arise through education, textbooks, and even social and religious settings that may influence our citizens' low…

When it comes to creationism, it might seem as if the United States is trapped in a century-long culture-war rut. In a sense, the Scopes Trial of 1925 put science itself on trial, and it can seem as if every new dispute over teaching evolution is only a repetition of that famous trial. In truth, however, the power of creationism has ebbed…

Anti-scientific attitudes can impose substantial costs on societies. Can schools be an important agent in mitigating the propagation of such attitudes? This paper investigates the effect of the content of science education on anti-scientific attitudes, knowledge, and choices. The analysis exploits staggered reforms that reduce or expand the…

Evolution is central to biology education and yet, it is often one of the most misunderstood and controversial topics that biology educators must teach. Research spanning the last four decades has shown that students continue to struggle, even with direct instruction, to understand the process of evolution by natural selection. In my first…

We describe a novel, university-level, introductory biology course that uses evolution as a narrative framework. Our course conveys the content in an introductory biology course by telling the story of the evolution of life on Earth. We begin with early Earth environments in which biological molecules and processes evolved and led to the first…

Students possess alternative conceptions of many science topics, and these conceptions can act as obstacles for learning scientific concepts. In the field of biology education, students' alternative conceptions of evolution have been widely investigated. However, there is little research on how teachers diagnose and deal with these alternative…

This study explores the beliefs of non-science majors in an undergraduate biology classroom as part of a larger study on evolution education. Groups of students (n=12) were given fourteen questions, some potentially controversial and some non-controversial, and asked to create categories based on what type of authority students would turn to as a…

In 2014, evolution through natural selection was introduced to the primary science National Curriculum in England for year 6 (ages 10-11). As teachers had little prior experience of teaching this concept, it provided a rare opportunity to study the effectiveness of different approaches. A study was developed to investigate the impact of…