Biology Education Research Lab, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287.
Biology Education Research Lab, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2017 Winter;16(4). doi: 10.1187/cbe.17-04-0062.
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.
大学生对进化的接受程度普遍较低,这主要由宗教信仰来预测。减少学生对宗教和进化之间冲突的感知,可以提高他们对进化的接受程度。然而,由于教师和学生的宗教文化和信仰存在差异,大学生物学教师可能会在试图减少学生对宗教和进化之间冲突的感知方面遇到困难。尽管在进化课程中,有很大比例的大学生是宗教信徒,但教授进化的大多数教师并非如此。为了考虑到许多大学教师的世俗文化和许多学生的宗教文化之间的差异,我们建议使用文化能力视角来创建有效的进化教育。文化能力是指来自一种文化的个体(在这种情况下,主要是教授进化的世俗教师)跨越文化差异并与来自不同文化的个体(在这种情况下,主要是宗教信仰的大学生物学学生)有效沟通的能力。我们将这个新框架称为进化教育中的宗教文化能力(ReCCEE)。在这篇文章中,我们描述了一系列文化能力实践,可以帮助教师减少学生对进化和宗教之间冲突的感知,提高学生对进化的接受程度,并帮助创造更具包容性的大学生物学课堂。