For biologists, a proper understanding of evolutionary processes is fundamentally important. However, undergraduate biology students often struggle to understand evolutionary processes, replacing factual knowledge with misconceptions on the subject. Classroom discussions can be effective active learning tools used to address these misconceptions and build undergraduate knowledge of evolution. This study aimed to (a) quantify knowledge and misconceptions of evolutionary processes among upper level undergraduate students and (b) analyze how knowledge and misconceptions changed throughout a semester-long, discussion-based course. Precourse assessment scores revealed that student knowledge of evolution was low, even among students who had previously taken evolution-based courses. Improvement shown on postcourse assessments suggests that classroom discussion can help strengthen student understanding of evolution and address misconceptions.