ERIC Number: EJ1207687
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
Chinese Pre-Service Biology Teachers' Evolutionary Knowledge, Reasoning Patterns, and Acceptance Levels
International Journal of Science Education, v41 n5 p628-651 2019
The goal of our study was to examine a large (>400), cross-sectional sample of Chinese pre-service biology teachers (PBTs) in order to document their evolution acceptance levels, evolution knowledge, and evolutionary reasoning patterns. This approach was taken in order to better understand the degree to which particular evolutionary reasoning difficulties exist independent of religious worldviews. The sample included (1) 160 PBTs tasked with completing four items from the ACORNS instrument, (2) 320 PBTs who completed the CINS and MATE instruments, and (3) 32 teachers who completed semi-structured clinical interviews using four ACORNS items. Findings from these samples revealed that Chinese PBTs' knowledge (CINS) and acceptance (MATE) were equivalent with teachers' scores from other countries, whereas performance on explanation tasks was lower. Scores from the CINS, MATE, and ACORNS did not reveal any significant improvements through the four-year teacher education programme. Although a large body of work has shown the important roles that religious affiliation and religiosity can play in evolutionary understanding and acceptance, our findings demonstrate that many evolutionary reasoning difficulties extend beyond religious factors, and add to a growing body of work showing that religiosity does not adequately account for PBTs' moderate evolution acceptance.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Preservice Teachers, Science Teachers, Biology, Evolution, Science Process Skills, Knowledge Level, Misconceptions, Religious Factors, Preservice Teacher Education, Adoption (Ideas)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A