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A call to use cultural competence when teaching evolution to religious college students: introducing religious cultural competence in evolution education (ReCCEE)
Barnes, M. E., & Brownell, S. E. (2017). A call to use cultural competence when teaching evolution to religious college students: introducing religious cultural competence in evolution education (ReCCEE). CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(4), es4.
Abstract
- Low acceptance of evolution among undergraduate students is common and is best predicted by religious beliefs. Decreasing students’ perceived conflict between religion and evolution could increase their acceptance of evolution. However, college biology instructors may struggle with trying to decrease students’ perceived conflict between religion and evolution because of differences in the religious cultures and beliefs of instructors and students. Although a large percentage of undergraduate students in evolution courses are religious, most instructors teaching evolution are not. To consider differences between the secular culture of many college instructors and the religious culture of many students, we propose using a lens of cultural competence to create effective evolution education. Cultural competence is the ability of individuals from one culture (in this case, primarily secular instructors who are teaching evolution) to bridge cultural differences and effectively communicate with individuals from a different culture (in this case, primarily religious undergraduate biology students). We call this new framework Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE). In this essay, we describe a suite of culturally competent practices that can help instructors reduce students’ perceived conflict between evolution and religion, increase students’ acceptance of evolution, and help create more inclusive undergraduate biology classrooms. If 80–90% of Americans profess that (they believe in God) and they think that evolution is against religion, then we (scientists) are not going to get very far… so the main reason we have to keep stressing that science is a different matter and is not opposed to religion…is that it happens to be right logically, but we should also be aware that it is very practical. –Stephen J. Gould, annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in the Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 2000 At the annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in March 2000, Stephen J. Gould, a champion of evolutionary theory, highlighted his distress to biologists about the current state of evolution education. He noted that a large percentage of the American public rejected evolution because of a perceived conflict between religion and science. Despite Gould’s own agnostic beliefs, he insisted that the scientific community take steps to relieve the tension between scientific and religious communities to advance evolution education. He predicted that we would not see a change in the rates of rejection of evolution if the scientific community continued to assert that evolutionary theory must be in opposition to religion. When Gould raised attention about this issue, the national Gallup poll reported that 44% of Americans believed that “Humans were created in their current form by God in the last 10,000 years,” and 17 years later, the rates of rejection of evolution in the United States have remained around 40% (Gallup, 2017). Further, the research literature indicates that the perceived conflict between evolution and religion may be exacerbated by differences in the religious cultures and religious beliefs of scientists and the public. If we are to change the public’s attitude toward evolution, we must find a way to bridge this cultural divide. In this essay, we will introduce the use of cultural competence as a way to bridge the religious cultural gap between scientists and the public. Cultural competence could be particularly effective for helping secular college instructors teach evolution to religious undergraduate biology students. We will use cultural competence as a lens to build a new framework of instructional practices that evolution instructors can use to more effectively teach evolution to religious students: Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE, pronounced “ree-see”). This framework encompasses a set of evidence-based instructional practices that can help minimize the negative impact of differences between the predominantly secular cultures of evolution instructors and the religious cultures of many of their students. The goal of this essay is to convince readers that the use of cultural competence in undergraduate evolution education can decrease students’ perceived conflict between evolution and religion, increase students’ acceptance of evolution, and enable religious students to feel more included in undergraduate biology classrooms.
- Concepts Evolution Education
- Relevant learning goals Conceptual Thinking
- Relevant school improvement goals Conceptual coherence, Conceptual pluralism, Conceptual understanding
