The Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University Of Bath, Bath, UK.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2018 Feb;2(2):388-394. doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0442-x. Epub 2018 Jan 8.
It is considered a myth that non-acceptance of scientific consensus on emotive topics is owing to difficulties processing scientific information and is, instead, owing to belief-associated psychological conflicts, the strongest non-acceptors being highly educated. It has been unclear whether these results from adults explain variation in response to school-level teaching. We studied a cohort of UK secondary school students (aged 14-16) and assessed their acceptance and understanding of evolution. In addition, to address their aptitude for science we assessed their understanding of genetics and their teacher-derived assessment of science aptitude. As both models predict, students with low initial evolution acceptance scores showed lower increases in the understanding of evolution. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this effect is better explained by lack of aptitude: before teaching, students with low acceptance had lower understanding of both evolution and of genetics; the low-acceptance students sat disproportionately in the foundation (rather than higher) science classes; low-acceptance students showed lower increments in the understanding of genetics; and student gain in the understanding of evolution correlated positively with gain in the understanding of genetics. We find no evidence either for a role for psychological conflict in determining response to teaching or that strong rejectors are more commonly of a higher ability. From qualitative data we hypothesize that religious students can avoid psychological conflict by adopting a compatibilist attitude. We conclude that there are students recalcitrant to the teaching of science (as currently taught) and that these students are more likely to not accept the scientific consensus. Optimizing methods to teach recalcitrant students is an important avenue for research.
人们认为，在情感话题上不接受科学共识是由于难以处理科学信息，而是由于与信仰相关的心理冲突，而最强烈的不接受者往往是受过高等教育的人。目前还不清楚这些来自成年人的结果是否能解释他们对学校层面教学的反应差异。我们研究了英国一所中学的学生（年龄在 14-16 岁之间），评估了他们对进化的接受程度和理解程度。此外，为了了解他们对科学的天赋，我们评估了他们对遗传学的理解以及他们的老师对他们科学天赋的评估。正如这两个模型所预测的那样，初始进化接受分数较低的学生表现出对进化理解的较低提高。与传统观念相反，这种效应更好地用缺乏天赋来解释：在教学之前，接受程度较低的学生对进化和遗传学的理解都较低；接受程度较低的学生不成比例地坐在基础（而不是更高）科学班；接受程度较低的学生对遗传学的理解提高较少；学生对进化的理解的提高与对遗传学的理解的提高呈正相关。我们没有发现任何证据表明心理冲突在决定对教学的反应中起作用，也没有发现强烈的反对者更常见于较高的能力。从定性数据中，我们假设宗教学生可以通过采取兼容主义的态度来避免心理冲突。我们的结论是，有一些学生对科学教学（如目前所教的）持抵制态度，而这些学生更有可能不接受科学共识。优化方法来教育这些抵制学生是一个重要的研究途径。
