European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment
Abstract Background Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized method...
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oai:doaj.org-article:8dc518591ef044ca910388f7f33ce55d2021-12-05T12:20:15ZEuropean first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment10.1186/s12052-021-00158-81936-64261936-6434https://doaj.org/article/8dc518591ef044ca910388f7f33ce55d2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-021-00158-8https://doaj.org/toc/1936-6426https://doaj.org/toc/1936-6434Abstract Background Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular, meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems, are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these deficits, we conducted a standardized European survey, on 9200 first-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, comprehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as well as influencing factors on evolution acceptance. Results We found that, despite European countries’ different cultural backgrounds and education systems, European first-year university students generally accept evolution. At the same time, they lack substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in a biology-related study program. Additionally, we developed a multilevel-model that determines religious faith as the main influencing factor in accepting evolution. According to our model, knowledge about evolution and interest in biological topics also increase acceptance of evolution, but to a much lesser extent than religious faith. The effect of age and sex, as well as the country’s affiliation, students’ denomination, and whether or not a student is enrolled in a biology-related university program, is negligible. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, despite all their differences, most of the European education systems for upper secondary education lead to acceptance of evolution at least in university students. It appears that, at least in this sample, the differences in knowledge between countries reflect neither the extent to which school curricula cover evolutionary biology nor the percentage of biology-related students in the country samples. Future studies should investigate the role of different European school curricula, identify particularly problematic or underrepresented evolutionary concepts in biology education, and analyze the role of religious faith when teaching evolution.Paul KuschmierzAnna BeniermannAlexander BergmannRianne PinxtenTuomas AiveloJustyna Berniak-WoźnyGustav BohlinAnxela Bugallo-RodriguezPedro CardiaBento Filipe Barreiras Pinto CavadasUmran Betul CebesoyDragana D. CvetkovićEmilie DemarsyMirko S. ĐorđevićSzymon M. DrobniakLiudmyla DubchakRadka M. DvořákováJana FančovičováCorinne FortinMomir FutoNicoleta Adriana GeamănăNiklas GerickeDonato A. GrassoÁdám Z. LendvaiEvangelia MavrikakiAndra MeneganzinAthanasios MogiasAndrea MöllerPaulo G. MotaYamama NaciriZoltán NémethKatarzyna Ożańska-PonikwiaSilvia PaolucciPéter László PapMaria PeterssonBarbara PietrzakTelmo PievaniAlma PobricJuris PorozovsGiulia RealdonXana Sá-PintoUroš B. SavkovićMathieu SicardMircea T. SofoneaAndrej SorgoAlexandru N. SterminIoan TăușanGregor TorkarLütfullah TürkmenSlavica TutnjevićAnna E. UittoMáté VargaMirna VargaLucia Vazquez-BenConstantinos VenetisEnrique VigueraLisa Christine VirtbauerAlbena VutsovaInmaculada YruelaJelle ZandveldDittmar GrafBMCarticleEvolutionAcceptanceKnowledgeMultilevel modelingSocioscientific issuesReligious faithSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691EvolutionQH359-425ENEvolution: Education and Outreach, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-22 (2021) |
| institution |
DOAJ |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
EN |
| topic |
Evolution Acceptance Knowledge Multilevel modeling Socioscientific issues Religious faith Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Evolution QH359-425 |
| spellingShingle |
Evolution Acceptance Knowledge Multilevel modeling Socioscientific issues Religious faith Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Evolution QH359-425 Paul Kuschmierz Anna Beniermann Alexander Bergmann Rianne Pinxten Tuomas Aivelo Justyna Berniak-Woźny Gustav Bohlin Anxela Bugallo-Rodriguez Pedro Cardia Bento Filipe Barreiras Pinto Cavadas Umran Betul Cebesoy Dragana D. Cvetković Emilie Demarsy Mirko S. Đorđević Szymon M. Drobniak Liudmyla Dubchak Radka M. Dvořáková Jana Fančovičová Corinne Fortin Momir Futo Nicoleta Adriana Geamănă Niklas Gericke Donato A. Grasso Ádám Z. Lendvai Evangelia Mavrikaki Andra Meneganzin Athanasios Mogias Andrea Möller Paulo G. Mota Yamama Naciri Zoltán Németh Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia Silvia Paolucci Péter László Pap Maria Petersson Barbara Pietrzak Telmo Pievani Alma Pobric Juris Porozovs Giulia Realdon Xana Sá-Pinto Uroš B. Savković Mathieu Sicard Mircea T. Sofonea Andrej Sorgo Alexandru N. Stermin Ioan Tăușan Gregor Torkar Lütfullah Türkmen Slavica Tutnjević Anna E. Uitto Máté Varga Mirna Varga Lucia Vazquez-Ben Constantinos Venetis Enrique Viguera Lisa Christine Virtbauer Albena Vutsova Inmaculada Yruela Jelle Zandveld Dittmar Graf European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| description |
Abstract Background Investigations of evolution knowledge and acceptance and their relation are central to evolution education research. Ambiguous results in this field of study demonstrate a variety of measuring issues, for instance differently theorized constructs, or a lack of standardized methods, especially for cross-country comparisons. In particular, meaningful comparisons across European countries, with their varying cultural backgrounds and education systems, are rare, often include only few countries, and lack standardization. To address these deficits, we conducted a standardized European survey, on 9200 first-year university students in 26 European countries utilizing a validated, comprehensive questionnaire, the “Evolution Education Questionnaire”, to assess evolution acceptance and knowledge, as well as influencing factors on evolution acceptance. Results We found that, despite European countries’ different cultural backgrounds and education systems, European first-year university students generally accept evolution. At the same time, they lack substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in a biology-related study program. Additionally, we developed a multilevel-model that determines religious faith as the main influencing factor in accepting evolution. According to our model, knowledge about evolution and interest in biological topics also increase acceptance of evolution, but to a much lesser extent than religious faith. The effect of age and sex, as well as the country’s affiliation, students’ denomination, and whether or not a student is enrolled in a biology-related university program, is negligible. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, despite all their differences, most of the European education systems for upper secondary education lead to acceptance of evolution at least in university students. It appears that, at least in this sample, the differences in knowledge between countries reflect neither the extent to which school curricula cover evolutionary biology nor the percentage of biology-related students in the country samples. Future studies should investigate the role of different European school curricula, identify particularly problematic or underrepresented evolutionary concepts in biology education, and analyze the role of religious faith when teaching evolution. |
| format |
article |
| author |
Paul Kuschmierz Anna Beniermann Alexander Bergmann Rianne Pinxten Tuomas Aivelo Justyna Berniak-Woźny Gustav Bohlin Anxela Bugallo-Rodriguez Pedro Cardia Bento Filipe Barreiras Pinto Cavadas Umran Betul Cebesoy Dragana D. Cvetković Emilie Demarsy Mirko S. Đorđević Szymon M. Drobniak Liudmyla Dubchak Radka M. Dvořáková Jana Fančovičová Corinne Fortin Momir Futo Nicoleta Adriana Geamănă Niklas Gericke Donato A. Grasso Ádám Z. Lendvai Evangelia Mavrikaki Andra Meneganzin Athanasios Mogias Andrea Möller Paulo G. Mota Yamama Naciri Zoltán Németh Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia Silvia Paolucci Péter László Pap Maria Petersson Barbara Pietrzak Telmo Pievani Alma Pobric Juris Porozovs Giulia Realdon Xana Sá-Pinto Uroš B. Savković Mathieu Sicard Mircea T. Sofonea Andrej Sorgo Alexandru N. Stermin Ioan Tăușan Gregor Torkar Lütfullah Türkmen Slavica Tutnjević Anna E. Uitto Máté Varga Mirna Varga Lucia Vazquez-Ben Constantinos Venetis Enrique Viguera Lisa Christine Virtbauer Albena Vutsova Inmaculada Yruela Jelle Zandveld Dittmar Graf |
| author_facet |
Paul Kuschmierz Anna Beniermann Alexander Bergmann Rianne Pinxten Tuomas Aivelo Justyna Berniak-Woźny Gustav Bohlin Anxela Bugallo-Rodriguez Pedro Cardia Bento Filipe Barreiras Pinto Cavadas Umran Betul Cebesoy Dragana D. Cvetković Emilie Demarsy Mirko S. Đorđević Szymon M. Drobniak Liudmyla Dubchak Radka M. Dvořáková Jana Fančovičová Corinne Fortin Momir Futo Nicoleta Adriana Geamănă Niklas Gericke Donato A. Grasso Ádám Z. Lendvai Evangelia Mavrikaki Andra Meneganzin Athanasios Mogias Andrea Möller Paulo G. Mota Yamama Naciri Zoltán Németh Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia Silvia Paolucci Péter László Pap Maria Petersson Barbara Pietrzak Telmo Pievani Alma Pobric Juris Porozovs Giulia Realdon Xana Sá-Pinto Uroš B. Savković Mathieu Sicard Mircea T. Sofonea Andrej Sorgo Alexandru N. Stermin Ioan Tăușan Gregor Torkar Lütfullah Türkmen Slavica Tutnjević Anna E. Uitto Máté Varga Mirna Varga Lucia Vazquez-Ben Constantinos Venetis Enrique Viguera Lisa Christine Virtbauer Albena Vutsova Inmaculada Yruela Jelle Zandveld Dittmar Graf |
| author_sort |
Paul Kuschmierz |
| title |
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| title_short |
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| title_full |
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| title_fullStr |
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed |
European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment |
| title_sort |
european first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized european cross-country assessment |
| publisher |
BMC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/8dc518591ef044ca910388f7f33ce55d |
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