A PILOT STUDY OF HOW EVOLUTION UNDERSTANDING, EVOLUTION ACCEPTANCE, AND PERCEPTIONS OF CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND EVOLUTION ARE AFFECTED BY SCIENCE CLASSES AT A RELIGIOUSLY AFFILIATED INSTITUTION

The theory of evolution is a crucial component of science literacy and a key aspect of biological and geological education. Widespread non-acceptance of evolution may have far reaching policy consequences for human health, environmental sustainability, and educational practices. The most prevalent indicator of non-acceptance of evolution among college students remains student’s self-identified faith and perceived conflict of evolution with religion (Sinatra et al. 2003; Betti et al. 2020). This may have consequences for other aspects of diversity in biology and the geosciences (Barnes et al. 2020). We seek to evaluate how different aspects of instructor identities and instructional techniques may influence student’s perceptions of these conflicts, understanding of evolution, and acceptance of evolution in the context of a religiously affiliated university.

For this pilot study, students in a science education course and a geology course were surveyed before and after evolutionary biology coursework using Qualtrics software. Surveys included collection of demographic information, the macroevolution component of the I-SEA inventory (Nadelson & Southerland 2012), two segments of the Perceived Conflict of Religion and Evolution instrument (Barnes et al. 2021), questions respecting student perceptions of their instructors and how evolution would be/was treated in class, and open response questions relating to evolution, how evolution relates to religious opinions, and opinions relating to evolution instruction in their classes. Student perspectives prior to instruction included atheistic evolution, theistic evolution, microevolution with special creation, and opinions that could be categorized as a viewpoint that these are "non-overlapping magisteria". While the first semester pilot study was limited in scope, over the 2022-23 academic year we will be recruiting students from subsequent offerings and additional classes in Geology, Biology, Anthropology, and Education. We will also be incorporating qualitative information from structured interviews to supplement survey data. These data will help identify aspects of instruction or instructional techniques that may reduce students’ perceived identity conflicts and improve evolution education in a variety of instructional contexts.