STEM university education has room for improvement.

In collaboration with educators from across the United States, Research On STEM Education (ROSE) is helping to make these improvements in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through evidence-based teaching through educational research.

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Join Dr. Elizabeth Barnes on January 20, 2021 at 12:00 pm (CST)

 Using Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE)
In this seminar we will discuss how instructors teaching evolution can reduce tension between a student’s religious identity and evolution. Evolution is a foundational component of biology education, yet it remains controversial among many college students who perceive a conflict between evolution and their religious beliefs. Further, this perceived conflict between religion and evolution can disproportionately effect people of color and women who tend to be more religious than white men. Biology instructors may struggle with addressing this perceived conflict between religion and evolution when teaching evolution because the majority of evolution instructors do not share the religious beliefs or backgrounds of their students; approximately 65% of college biology students identify as religious while only 25% of biologists identify as religious. Despite decades of evolution education research in the United States that illustrates how to reduce conflict between religion and evolution, we have found that many biology instructors are still uncomfortable addressing religious beliefs when teaching evolution. To highlight a need for cultural competence among biology instructors teaching evolution to religious students I will present an instructional framework called Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE) that includes evidence-based practices to reduce students’ perceived conflict between religion and evolution and create more inclusive evolution education for religious students. I will discuss studies illustrating the efficacy of this framework and we will explore how such efforts may disproportionately benefit students of color and women.
 Dr. Barnes became interested in studying social perceptions of science as an undergraduate biology major and became fascinated by the social psychology underlying rejection and acceptance of scientific information. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, she earned her Ph.D. in Biology Education Research from Arizona State University studying how to reduce tension between religion and evolution. She now runs the Social Perceptions of Science lab at Middle Tennessee State University.

As always ROSE seminars use the ZOOM platform. Anyone interested in participating remotely in the meeting can access it by going to zoom.us, clicking "Join a Meeting", and entering the meeting code: 924 5637 3078.  You can also join the meeting via smartphone using the free ZOOM app. If you would like to test-drive ZOOM or need the password, please contact Jeff at evolve@uab.edu.

The ROSE network is funded by the following sponsors:

UAB STEM Initiative

The materials on this website are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. RCN-UBE-1826988.