| Evolution is the concept that ties together all of the biological
sciences. However, few curricular lessons are available that incorporate
evolution into topics (that do not obviously lend themselves to it). For
example, one can easily locate evolutionary-based lessons on topics like
classification and natural selection. However, there are few lessons
available for the high-school biology teacher on cell structure, protein
function, or even biodiversity that highlight the importance of
evolutionary processes. The purpose of this study was to better
integrate the concept of evolution, using real examples, throughout the
biology curriculum. This required developing or locating curriculum that
tied evolution into many disparate areas of biology and then
implementing the lessons. Two groups of high-school biology students
participated in this study. The first group received a traditional
presentation of the biology curriculum, in which evolution is taught as
a discrete unit. The second group received curriculum that integrated
evolutionary concepts throughout the semester. Each group took a pre-
and post-test which measured their scientific understanding and
application of evolution to describe biological scenarios at the
beginning and end of the semester. Analyses of the results demonstrate
that at the end of the course both groups, combined, were better able to
define science, answer questions about the history of life on earth,
identify data useful for hypothesis testing, and were more likely to
employ evolutionary reasoning (p 0.05). Furthermore, at the end of the
term, both groups were also more likely to apply "Darwinian" reasoning
and less likely to apply "Paleyian" design into their explanations of
how organisms become adapted to their environments (p 0.05). Herein,
"Paleyian" reasoning refers to the idea that species were designed
(presumably by a creator) and did not evolve. However, interestingly,
the students also increased in their application of "Lamarckian"
reasoning (p 0.05). A comparison of the two groups shows that the
students who received the integrated curriculum had more significant
increases in their ability to define science, answer questions about the
history of life on earth, and identify data useful for hypothesis
testing. Furthermore, they also had more significant increases in their
application of the concept of evolution and in their use of a
"Darwinian" mechanism. Although these data are encouraging, it should be
noted that only the students receiving the integrated curriculum
increased in their application of "Lamarckian" reasoning. Furthermore,
although the group receiving the integrated curriculum did significantly
increase their understanding of science and evolution (the
"Lamarckians," notwithstanding) a comparison of the two groups shows
that they received equivalent scores on the post-tests. |
