TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of evolution education
T2 - Examining attitudes toward and knowledge of evolution in college courses
AU - Short, Stephen D.
AU - Hawley, Patricia H.
PY - 2015/1
Y1 - 2015/1
N2 - The present study examined changes in university students' attitudes toward and knowledge of evolution measured by the previously validated Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS) in response to curricular content. Specifically, student responses on the survey were compared across an evolutionary psychology course, an introductory biology course with significant evolutionary content, and a political science course with no evolutionary content. To this end, 868 students were assessed at a large Midwestern U.S. university prior to and following completion of one of the three courses. A multiple group repeated measures confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine latent mean differences in self-reported Evolution Knowledge/Relevance, Creationist Reasoning, Evolutionary Misconceptions, and Exposure to Evolution. A significant and notable increase in Knowledge/Relevance, as well as decreases in Creationist Reasoning and Evolutionary Misconceptions, was observed for the evolutionary psychology course, whereas the biology course demonstrated no change in Knowledge/Relevance and a significant increase in Evolutionary Misconceptions. The implications of these findings for evolution education are discussed.
AB - The present study examined changes in university students' attitudes toward and knowledge of evolution measured by the previously validated Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS) in response to curricular content. Specifically, student responses on the survey were compared across an evolutionary psychology course, an introductory biology course with significant evolutionary content, and a political science course with no evolutionary content. To this end, 868 students were assessed at a large Midwestern U.S. university prior to and following completion of one of the three courses. A multiple group repeated measures confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine latent mean differences in self-reported Evolution Knowledge/Relevance, Creationist Reasoning, Evolutionary Misconceptions, and Exposure to Evolution. A significant and notable increase in Knowledge/Relevance, as well as decreases in Creationist Reasoning and Evolutionary Misconceptions, was observed for the evolutionary psychology course, whereas the biology course demonstrated no change in Knowledge/Relevance and a significant increase in Evolutionary Misconceptions. The implications of these findings for evolution education are discussed.
KW - Confirmatory factor analysis
KW - Creationist reasoning
KW - Education
KW - Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey
KW - Evolutionary psychology
KW - Misconceptions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84924788145&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/147470491501300105
DO - 10.1177/147470491501300105
M3 - Article
C2 - 25603558
AN - SCOPUS:84924788145
VL - 13
SP - 67
EP - 88
JO - Evolutionary Psychology
JF - Evolutionary Psychology
SN - 1474-7049
IS - 1
ER -