Evil-loution

[Kevin Robert Dean]

Student knowledge of evolution deficient
Researchers from McGill and Indiana Universities tackle
issue in Evolution
Public understanding of evolution is woefully lacking.
Despite a considerable boost in evolutionary teachings over
the past decade, says Brian Alters, director of McGill's
Evolution Education Research Centre, people's lack of
evolutionary understanding is still affecting science
literacy, research and general academia. 
And it's not just the general public who don't understand
evolution, warns Alters. "A considerable proportion of
college graduates aren't familiar with evolutionary
principals either." 

These are just some of the issues that Alters has tackled
in the last edition of Evolution, in collaboration with
Craig E. Nelson, a professor in the Department of Biology
and Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior at
Indiana University. In their article, the scientists stress
that most students retain little of what they learn in
college, much less evolutionary theory. Worse, students
with extensive secondary-level and college science courses
have similar deficits. 

The two researchers also explore what distinguishes
effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher
education and, particularly, in evolution education. To
obtain a full copy of the Alters-Nelson text, please
contact sylvain-jacques.desjardins at mcgill.ca of McGill's
University Relations Office. To read the abstract of their
article, please consult:

 http://tinyurl.com/6iy6
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