People of color are underrepresented in many STEM fields, and this underrepresentation is especially prevalent for Black individuals in evolutionary biology. Although there are many potential reasons why, a new study focuses on a factor that is often missing from these discussions: religious beliefs. It has been well established that Black individuals are more likely to be Christian compared to white individuals. Previous studies have also reported that Black individuals are less likely to accept evolution. However, no prior study has explored the relationships between race/ethnicity, religious beliefs, and evolution acceptance. Because there is often a perceived conflict between Christianity and evolution, a recent study set out to examine if there may be a connection between people of color’s religious affiliation and their acceptance of evolution. People of color are more religious and less accepting of evolution Collecting data from almost 10,000 students in 77 undergraduate biolo...

Most scientists agree that the theory of evolution is a foundational concept in understanding biology, yet it remains rejected by nearly half of the college student population ( Barnes & Brownell, 2018 ). With religious students making up a large percentage of the student body on college campuses across the United States, it is important to consider how the way we teach evolution may impact religious students as they integrate the scientific view of evolution with their religious beliefs. One influential factor in religious student acceptance lies in the debate of whether you can believe in God and still accept evolution. A new study has shown that the ability of religious students to perceive evolution as agnostic – not being able to say whether there is or isn’t a God- rather than atheistic – saying there is no God- increased their comfort in learning and understanding evolution and also increased their acceptance of evolution. Bridges and barriers to being both religious and ...

If you teach a college biology course, you are probably aware that most biology majors are interested in a medical career ( Cooper et al. 2019 ). While many sub-disciplines in biology traditionally cater to the interests of students focused on medical careers, it is common for premed students to think that evolution has nothing to do with medicine. However, that is changing with the rise of a relatively new, but rapidly growing, field called evolutionary medicine (EvMed). EvMed is a discipline that applies lenses and tools from evolutionary biology and anthropology to enrich our understanding of human health and disease. It explores questions such as: Why are we more likely to develop cancer as we age? Why are certain pathologies, like obesity and autoimmune disorders, becoming increasingly common in developed nations? And why have patterns of children’s growth and development changed over the past century? Currently, over half of the major research institutions in the US now offer ...

As classrooms are becoming more diverse, teaching practices should become more inclusive toward all groups. Cultural competence, the shaping of lectures to be more inclusive toward different cultures’ beliefs, has become a more common practice in many university classrooms, yet it is routinely ignored when teaching evolution to religious students (Barnes & Brownell, 2017). This negligence can cause religious students to perceive the biology community as hostile and develop an even greater conflict between religion and evolution, but there are teaching practices that can decrease this perceived conflict (Barnes & Brownell, 2017). Hostility of Biology Professors Toward Religion Biology and religion have historically been at odds with each other, and despite their dualistic nature, continue to be perceived as incompatible by some biology professors and religious students (Rissler et al., 2014; Pew Research Center, 2009). There have been reports by religious students that biolo...

Today's post is by Liz Barnes, a PhD Graduate Student in Sara Brownell's Biology Education Research Lab at ASU's School of Life Sciences. Liz found her niche in evolution education research and completed a master’s thesis titled “Professor Attitudes and Beliefs about Teaching Evolution”. After obtaining her master’s degree in the summer of 2014, she began working on her doctoral research, which focuses on how the personal belief systems of individuals influence their perceptions of science and science education. Further, she is studying the ways in which science educators can effectively teach controversial subjects in biology while fostering positive attitudes towards science. Evolution is one of the most important theories in biology and yet one of the most controversial in society (Dobzhansky, 1973; Newport, 2014). This concurrent foundational and controversial nature of evolution makes it one of the more difficult topics to teach in biology. While studen...