Standard Research Grant: Probing Public Understanding and Acceptance of Evolution

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

General Audience Summary The purpose of this project is to gain a fuller picture of what people in the United States know about the theory of evolution, to what extent they accept this theory, and what explains their beliefs and their degree of acceptance. The project thus has the potential to make a huge impact on important social issues, such as conflicts over biology education. Understanding the nature and source of resistance to evolutionary biology is critical for changing not only public dialogue, but also the way in which public dialogue is framed. The PIs are committed to disseminating the findings of this project so that they will reach those involved in science policy and in formal and informal science education. They will do so by contributing materials to and reviewing materials for the Understanding Evolution project at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (which provides lesson plans and other resources to teachers), giving public lectures, leading professional development workshops for teachers, and writing articles for the policy journal Science Progress. The PIs will also involve at least four undergraduate research assistants from Penn's diverse student body in every stage of the project. Technical Summary The PIs propose a systematic investigation of the public's knowledge about and attitudes towards evolution. This project will approach the question of the public's understanding and acceptance of evolution by first conducting a series of preliminary surveys focusing on what people know about various aspects of the theory of evolution, the extent to which they accept these aspects, and any demographic factors that systematically impact their understanding and acceptance. These surveys will ask about the extent to which they appreciate descent with modification, their ability to reason about phylogenetic relationships, and whether they preferentially accept adaptive explanations. The results of these surveys will then be used to construct a single questionnaire, which will be administered to a demographically representative panel of 1,000 U.S. citizens. The PIs will additionally conducted targeted interviews with individuals who accept evolution without understanding it, as well as individuals who do not accept evolution, to gain a deeper understanding of sources of misconceptions about evolution. The PIs will investigate several hypotheses about why Americans resist accepting evolution. Using the same procedure indicated, the PIs will develop a second survey instrument, which will be administered to a second demographically balanced panel of Americans. Together, the results of these two surveys will produce the most highly refined data about Americans' views on evolution that have ever been collected.