Evidence from isotopes other than radiocarbon shows that dinosaur fossils are millions of years old. Despite that, bone mineral from Mesozoic dinosaur fossils yields a falsely young radiocarbon "date" of less than 50,000 years, due to its accumulation of new radiocarbon via recrystallization. Similarly, the so-called collagen fraction of…

Background: Argumentation, the justification of claims with reasons and/or evidence, has emerged as a significant goal in science education in recent years. Yet, there is limited understanding of secondary students' arguments and particularly their use of warrants in interdisciplinary contexts such as science and religious education. Furthermore,…

The recent discovery of preserved cells and soft tissues in certain dinosaur bones seems incompatible with an age of millions of years, given the expectation that cells and soft tissues should have decayed away after millions of years. However, evidence from radiometric dating shows that dinosaur fossils are indeed millions of years old. Under…

Numerous studies have shown that a considerable number of students do not accept the theory of evolution, prompting the scientific community to seek ways to improve how lessons on evolution are designed in order to promote students' acceptance. A crucial factor identified in many studies is students' comprehension of the nature of science and…

The recent discovery of radiocarbon in dinosaur bones at first seems incompatible with an age of millions of years, due to the short half-life of radiocarbon. However, evidence from isotopes other than radiocarbon shows that dinosaur fossils are indeed millions of years old. Fossil bone incorporates new radiocarbon by means of recrystallization…

We report on a survey of 1717 students at two different points of their secondary school education. This survey is designed to discover their reasoning about scientific and religious accounts of the origins of the universe and life. The study was motivated by a concern, based on previous research, that factors such as the compartmentalised…

In this response paper, we continue and further expand upon Elizabeth Watts' discussion on Buddhism and science, in the context of teachers' searching for the pedagogical "means to increasing student receptivity to science." While we share Watts' concern over the detrimental consequences of creationism in schools, we also offer an…

Although John Scopes and his famous "Monkey Trial" strongly influenced the ongoing evolution-creationism controversy, relatively little is known about Scopes's post-trial life. Moreover, many questions about his trial remain unanswered (e.g., did he actually teach evolution in Dayton?). This paper answers these questions with new…

This article examines the teaching of creation in a year six and a year three Religious Education (RE) class in schools in the south of England with a focus on the type and role of teacher questioning in relation to classroom discussions. The nature of knowledge, curriculum content and the relationship between RE and other subjects is currently…

Teaching materials frequently answer objections to evolution by demarcating science from religion. Because definitions of science shaped by demarcation tend to magnify its empirical features, they weaken students' understanding of science's theoretical dimension. Demarcation fails to answer creationism for the opposite reason; by insisting that…

In the context of the science versus creationism debate, Elizabeth Watts thoughtfully explores Buddhism as a model of compatibility between science and religion, and as inspiration for the pedagogical potential of mindfulness practices to promote student receptivity to scientific views of evolution. However, Watts focuses on modern Buddhist…

Evolution understanding is often positively connected with magnitudes of evolution acceptance, whereas religiosity mostly interferes negatively. However, comparisons between studies and countries must be treated cautiously due to the diversity of used instruments and samples. This study aims to generate new evidence concerning the interplay of…

This study explored the usefulness of the open dialogue strategy to help Saudi Arabian primary teachers teach, and fourth-grade students learn, the key biological concept of classification, which is a significant challenge for students to grasp, especially the concept of humans versus animals. The convenience sample comprised N = 84 Grade four…

Despite the importance of evolution to understand living phenomena, evolution teaching confronts several tensions, especially with respect to teachers' and students' religious beliefs. These aspects have been widely investigated in the USA and Europe. However, little empirical research has been done on this issue in Latin America, despite their…

Research has previously examined the role of the epistemological background of students in accepting or rejecting the theory of evolution. In this study, the participants were 11 undergraduate biology major students in a private university in Beirut, Lebanon. We collected data through semi-structured interviews, and we extracted the patterns…