Exploring Relations Among Preservice Elementary Teachers鈥?Ideas About Evolution, Understanding of Relevant Science Concepts, and College Science Coursework

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• 作者：Diana C. Rice (1) drice@fsu.edu
  Sibel Kaya (2) sibelkaya@gmail.com
• 关键词：Evolution &#8211 ; Scientific understanding &#8211 ; Perservice teachers &#8211 ; College science coursework
• 刊名：Research in Science Education
• 出版时间：April 2012
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：24_0157244X
• 类别：bus
• 卷：42
• 期：2
• 页码：165-179
• 数据来源：sp

摘要

This study investigated the relations among preservice elementary teachers’ ideas about evolution, their understanding of basic science concepts and college science coursework. Forty-two percent of 240 participants did not accept the theory of human evolution, but held inconsistent ideas about related topics, such as co-existence of humans and dinosaurs and plate tectonics. Accepting the theory of evolution was positively correlated with correctly answering the three other questions related to the age of Earth. Furthermore, participants who rejected evolution scored significantly lower on a test of basic science concepts than did participants who held accurate views on human evolution. Study results revealed no apparent association between completion of advanced college science courses and acceptance of evolutionary theory or understanding of science concepts. Implications for elementary science teacher education were discussed.