News and Headlines : CWU Research Looks at Evolution Education

CWU Research Looks at Evolution Education

November 17, 2005

Contact: Dr. Steven Verhey (509-963-3431/fax 509-963-2730/e-mail: verheys@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The United States has produced more Nobel Prize winners in science than England, Germany and Japan combined. The U.S. also has the highest percentage of citizens who believe in creationism.

The courts have become the latest battlegrounds between advocates of "intelligent design" (ID), who believe the universe is so complicated it must have been designed, and science educators. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, while solid majorities believe that evolution should be taught, roughly two-thirds favor adding creationist topics such as ID to high school science curricula.

New research, published in the November issue of "BioScience" - a peer-reviewed, heavily cited, monthly journal -- by Dr. Steven Verhey, Central Washington University biology professor, which sheds light on the creationism paradox and suggests a solution.

Verhey found that college students who learned about both creationism and evolution in an introductory class were more likely to adopt more scientific views compared with students in different sections of the same class who received the traditional emphasis on evolution without discussion of creationism.

His students read parts of a book by a leading ID writer, watched a video about the Genesis story of creation, and learned about a variety of scientific and nonscientific origin explanations. They also learned about the history and philosophy of science. The approach produced dramatic results.

"Sixty-one percent of the students in my classes said that their views had changed, compared with only 21 percent in the traditional classes," Verhey says. "That's a big difference, and it's highly statistically significant. It suggests just focusing on evidence for evolution isn't the best approach."

According to Verhey, the key is recognizing that nearly all Americans adults have been exposed to information about both creationism and evolution. About 70 percent of Verhey's students said they had learned about both creationism and evolution before entering the class.

"Basic educational theory says you can't expect people to change their attitudes without acknowledging their prior learning," he adds. "Most of these students were initially sympathetic to creationist explanations and moved toward greater acceptance of evolution."

In an editorial accompanying Verhey's article, Craig Nelson, a noted evolution education authority, wrote that this approach provides "powerful evidence" that alternatives to "ill-founded" traditional educational choices can work.

Nelson further cautioned that U.S. high school teachers are not prepared to apply Verhey's approach, and they should not be required to attempt to do so. Instead, he called for improved science education at the university level to help future teachers and others "understand why there is no contest scientifically between creationism and evolution."