[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-594931-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-594931-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","perspectives-why-teach-biology-if-it-is-rejected-how-to-teach-evolution-so-that-it-can-be-accepted","Perspectives - Why Teach Biology If It Is Rejected? How to Teach Evolution So That It Can Be Accepted","","A disconnect exists between instruction about biological evolution and students’ acceptance of evolution, which limits their ability to apply evolutionary theory to their lives and to understanding the biology field. The study reviews literature on barriers to acceptance, correlates tied to acceptance, and education methods that can raise acceptance levels. Results indicate student acceptance is likely to increase by changing how teachers are taught and by altering their instructional methods.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/perspectives-why-teach-biology-if-it-is-rejected-how-to-teach-evolution-so-that-it-can-be-accepted/594931/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/perspectives-why-teach-biology-if-it-is-rejected-how-to-teach-evolution-so-that-it-can-be-accepted/594931.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mary Man","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What problem does the document identify regarding evolution education?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Students often receive instruction on biological evolution but do not accept it, creating a gap that prevents meaningful application of the theory to their lives and understanding of biology.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why is evolution frequently rejected according to the text?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The text emphasizes that the unifying theory of evolutionary biology is widely rejected, contributing to students viewing biology as disconnected facts that require extensive memorization, which many students avoid.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Does teaching evolution increase student acceptance?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The document reports that instruction often increases knowledge but does not reliably increase acceptance; correlations suggest acceptance may predict understanding rather than the reverse.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},594931,1792433562,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":115,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7421720224475,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Perspectives  \nWhy Teach Biology If It Is Rejected? How to Teach Evolution So That It Can Be  \nAccepted  \nClinton Laidlaw 1 and Jamie Jensen2  \n1(Corresponding Author), Brigham Young University, Biology 4101 LSB, Provo, UT, USA 84602-0002, 303-709-4528, [clintlaidlaw@gmail.com](clintlaidlaw@gmail.com)  \n2Brigham Young University, Biology 4059 LSB, Provo, UT, USA 84602-0002,(801) 422-6896, [jamie.jensen@byu.edu](jamie.jensen@byu.edu)  \nAbstract  \nThere exists a disconnect between instruction about biological evolution and acceptance of evolution by students. This disconnect prevents students from applying the theory to their lives or to their understanding of the field of biology. We examine the literature for common barriers to the acceptance of evolution, correlates with acceptance of evolution, and potential means by which education might result in increased levels of acceptance among students. We find that by changing the way that teachers themselves are taught, and by altering the methods teachers use to teach, it is likely that student acceptance of evolution can increase from instruction.  \nKeywords: Evolution, Education, Instruction, Acceptance, Teaching   \nIntroduction  \nBiological evolution is the central organizing theory of the field of biology [Dobzhansky, 1973; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1993, 2011; Bybee, 1997; Kagan, 1992; National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), 2010; National Research Council (NRC), 1996] . Without evolutionary theory, biology is reduced to an assemblage of tangential and loosely connected facts. Despite possessing a unifying theory, biology as a subject is still frequently viewed by students as being a disparate and nonsensical field requiring extensive levels of memorization of seemingly unrelated topics (Nomme, 2014) . Given this perceived disconnect between topics, every aspect of biology becomes more difficult or even impossible to understand and is therefore avoided by many students (Nomme, 2014) .  \nA major factor contributing to the dissociation of concepts in biology is the fact that the unifying element (evolutionary theory) is so widely rejected. Nearly a third of American adults firmly reject evolution (Miller et al., 2006), and less than a quarter accept evolution of humans (Lovely & Kondrick, 2008) . Among educators, evolution is occasionally rejected and frequently ignored or marginalized as to evade what is perceived as avoidable conflict with both students and parents (Lerner, 2000; Farber, 2003; Olivera et al,. 2011; Verhey, 2005; Goldston & Kyzer, 2009) . This widespread rejection within the general populous comes despite near complete consensus among scientists (Pew Research Center, 2015; Alters & Alters, 2001) . If the central organizing theory of the entire field of biology is rejected, then there is some question as to the utility of attempting its instruction at all. If what is taught isn’t internalized, then it becomes  \nnothing more than trivia. Biology is generally considered a part of a general education at all levels, yet students that do not receive instruction about or that do not accept evolution are less likely to retain the information (Nehm & Schonfeld, 2007) or transfer their understanding to applications outside of the course itself (Nehm & Reilly, 2007; Catley & Novack, 2009; Fowler & Zeidler, 2016) .  \nInstruction Does Not Mean Acceptance  \nUnderstanding that evolution is almost universally accepted by scientists, one might postulate that rejection of evolutionary theory is related to general ignorance of the subject matter. This might seem particularly plausible given that most students are unable to properly articulate what evolutionary theory posits (Robbins & Roy, 2007), and there is a correlation between knowledge of evolution and acceptance (Weisberg et al., 2018) . As knowledge of evolution generally increases with instruction (Kim & Nehm, 2011; Moore et al., 2011) it has been frequently hypothesized that ac","cbCairEMT1PGoGv4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairEMT1PGoGv4","pdf",329784,"English","# Introduction\n## Instruction Does Not Mean Acceptance","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the document identify regarding evolution education?\",\"answer\":\"Students often receive instruction on biological evolution but do not accept it, creating a gap that prevents meaningful application of the theory to their lives and understanding of biology.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is evolution frequently rejected according to the text?\",\"answer\":\"The text emphasizes that the unifying theory of evolutionary biology is widely rejected, contributing to students viewing biology as disconnected facts that require extensive memorization, which many students avoid.\"},{\"question\":\"Does teaching evolution increase student acceptance?\",\"answer\":\"The document reports that instruction often increases knowledge but does not reliably increase acceptance; correlations suggest acceptance may predict understanding rather than the reverse.\"}]","Perspectives - Why Teach Biology If It Is Rejected? How to Teach Evolution So That It Can Be Accepted | PDF",1792080113,23]