Students with religious beliefs often find it difficult to accept the theory of evolution. It is important that educators feel comfortable addressing student questions on the compatibility of evolution and religion. We designed an online professional development course that taught the foundational principles of both evolution and religion in order…

The issue of the secular state is pertinent in Latin America, especially in countries like Brazil, where religion may influence the political and educational field. Data from a survey of biology teachers regarding the teaching of evolution in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay were analysed, recognising the secularity of the countries. The…

Evolutionary theory (ET) is the unifying theory of Life Sciences, but it is largely misunderstood and the target of dispute in many countries, mainly because of conflicts with religious beliefs. Brazil is a country with a culture that is deeply rooted belief in God. In this paper, we report a study in Brazil where we applied a 12-question…

In the 2020/21 school year, education changed overnight due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the lockdown on students' knowledge of evolution. Two student groups were compared; both covered the same subject matter, and only the implementation differed: either online or in class. The sample consisted of…

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…

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…

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…

This piece responds to the article by Arif Rachmatullah, Soonhye Park, and Minsu Ha "Crossing borders between science and religion: Muslim Indonesian biology teachers' perceptions of teaching the theory of evolution," in which the authors are among the first researchers to explore the views of Indonesian science teachers regarding…

In the context of the distinction between normative and descriptive approaches to the relationship between science and religion, this article discusses the recent work of the sociologist Elaine Ecklund. It reviews four of her published outputs, summarising her data concerning the views of religious people and professional scientists, including…

This review explores Thomas Lessl's "Demarcation as a classroom response to creationism: A critical examination of the National Academy of Science's "Science, Evolution, and Creationism" (2008)." Lessl's work examines philosophical debates about the relationship between science and religion from the perspective of communication…

Evolution is one of the most controversial scientific issues worldwide, mainly because of the presumed conflict with religion, which also arises in school biology classes. Here, we surveyed biology teachers from different Jewish sectors in Israel about their experiences teaching evolution and their perspective on relating to students' religious…

There is a long history of some students finding that the science instruction they receive in schools fails to address their deeply held concerns about the theory of evolution. Such concerns are principally religious, though there are also students with deeply held religious views who are perfectly comfortable with the theory of evolution. New…

Teaching the theory of evolution has often faced various challenges, including teachers' internal conflict between the theory of evolution and their personal religious beliefs. This multiple case study examined the perceptions of and approaches to teaching evolution of six Indonesian Muslim biology teachers who were working in three different…

Evolution is often seen as a site of contestation within the school curriculum. The topic of evolution is therefore often considered to be 'controversial'. I first examine what is meant by 'controversial' and conclude that while, in an everyday sense, the topic of evolution can indeed be considered to be controversial, this term can mislead. A…