32.028 - Relations Between Religious Belief and Learning About Evolution: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session compares findings from studies in three countries of the relations between students’ thinking about evolution and their religious beliefs. The papers examine relations between religious beliefs and acceptance of evolution among Austrian students; regional differences in US university students’ knowledge and acceptance of evolution; instructional practices of biology professors in the USA; and how pupils at General and Religious schools in Israel refer to evolution and creationism when justifying their religious beliefs.

Public debates often cast scientific and religious thinking as polar opposites. However, these studies indicate that educators and students find various ways, in practice, to accommodate both. The symposium examines the implications of these findings, including cultural differences, for the teaching of evolution in multicultural societies.

Sub Unit

• Division C - Learning and Instructions / Division C - Section 1d: Science

Chair

• Eli Gottlieb, Mandel Leadership Institute

Papers

• Religion, Superstition, and Evolution: An Overview of Recent Studies in Austria and Germany - Erich Eder, Sigmund Freud University

• Divided We Fall: The Evolution Controversy as a Driver for Rethinking Science Education - Amanda Glaze, Georgia Southern University

• A Need for Culturally Sensitive Evolution Education: Perspectives From College Biology Instructors and Students - Elizabeth Barnes, Arizona State University

• Influence of Evolution Discourse on Religious Belief: Israeli Public Schools as a Natural Experiment - Eli Gottlieb, Mandel Leadership Institute

Discussant

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California