The Status of Evolution Education Around the World Excluding USA: A Critical Review of the Literature 2000-2021

Abstract

The theory of evolution is a core theory that many other fields in science rely on for scientific insights and improved practices. However, evolution understanding has been shown to be affected by many factors such as attitudes, beliefs and instruction, among others. Negative influence of these factors on evolution understanding threatens evolution education. To resolve this, it is first important to understand the status of evolution worldwide. Consequently, this thesis presents a critical review of the literature that explores the status of evolution education around the world which will then provide a rationale for future investigations and studies. To identify relevant studies, the review employs two techniques. The first technique is conducting a thorough search of the literature using a web search engine, Google Scholar, and an academic search engine, AUBLibraries. The other technique is the ancestry approach, in which references from the studies identified using the first technique are traced. The studies included in this review adhered to the following criteria: (1) published in English, (2) conducted between 2000 and 2021, (3) conducted in countries all around the world except the USA, and (4) peer-reviewed empirical studies. The identified studies were then analyzed and categorized based on four key themes: (1) Attitudes toward the Theory of Evolution, (2) Conceptions and misconceptions about the Theory of Evolution, (3) Factors influencing the attitudes toward the Theory of Evolution, and (4) Teaching of the Theory of Evolution. The thesis also proposes few recommendations such as (1) investigating the relationship between factors influencing attitudes and misconceptions and other mediating factors, (2) conducting more studies that address essentialism and its correlation with evolution, (3) investigating the relationship between evolution understanding and epistemological resources (4) relying on classroom discourse analysis as a data collection and analysis tool while conducting investigations, (5) addressing the possibility of including the topic of evolution in the curriculum at early ages as well as high grade levels with states and governments, (6) designing and implementing training programs for pre- and in-service teachers, and (7) introducing the interventions that have been shown by research to be effective to schools and practicing teachers.