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This blog was originally posted onSpringerOpen。

In May of this year, science educators were treated to a surprising and, for many, pleasant bit of news. According toGallup polling，拒绝对人类起源的科学解释支持宗教创造论的美国人的数量达到了历史最低水平。自1982年以来，他们问这个问题的第一年，接受进化的人数从未如此高。

While this news was well received in the science education community, the other side of the story is less encouraging. Despite over a half century of education reforms aimed at better science instruction, nearly 40 percent of Americans reject the overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution.

接受进化的错误二分法需要完全拒绝宗教，如果大学生担心自己的宗教身份不会受到科学教师的尊重，则会产生令人毛骨悚然的效果。

如此广泛的科学否认会带来可怕的后果。在过去的7个月中，我们已经看到，诸如气候变化之类的问题的反科学情绪如何影响全国政策，以威胁到我们在STEM和创新方面的竞争能力，还威胁到我们的竞争能力，而且威胁the very future of our planet。此外，如果大学生担心自己的宗教身份不会受到科学教师的尊重，那么对进化的错误二分法就必须完全拒绝宗教。

This issue is a personal one for both me and my advisorJason R. Wiles。While I was never opposed to evolution, I cannot recall ever being taught about it in my high school biology classes. I entered college still unsure if evolution was true, influenced by the cultural milieu that suggests that there is still a legitimate scientific debate on whether evolution occurs (there isn’t, and it does). For Dr. Wiles, it was even more serious. He was raised in a very anti-evolution environment in rural Arkansas, and it was not until graduate school that he learned about evolution. He struggled emotionally as family and social ties were tested as he eventually came to understand and accept evolution as the unifying explanatory framework of biology.

这些个人经历​​一直是我们对这个话题的热情的根源，但是我们的热情也受到了推动our interest in increasing representation and diversity in biology。Specifically, I am interested in exploring how various educational, psychological, personal, and sociodemographic factors impact an individual’s acceptance or rejection of evolution. Our current article explores how many of these factors interact towards influencing acceptance of evolution.

Findings

The term “nature of science” denotes the aims and processes of science: supernatural causes are not the purview of scientific inquiry; the difference between evidence, facts, hypotheses, theories, and laws; and the understanding of science as a social and human endeavor.

What we found was very intriguing: more so than any measure of religious belief, the most significant factor that influenced acceptance of evolution in our sample was an understanding of the nature of science. The nature of science is a term used by educators and philosophers of science to denote the aims and processes of science. In particular, the measure we used focused on the methodological naturalism of science (supernatural causes are not the purview of scientific inquiry); the difference between evidence, facts, hypotheses, theories, and laws; and the understanding of science as a social and human endeavor.

我们发现其他教育或智力追求的措施也很重要。人们发现，衡量进化知识和大学生物学课程的数量都与接受进化有关。但是，这些措施被称为“开放经验”的措施取代了这些措施。开放经验是心理学家使用的一种结构，这是“Big Five” personality measure。Of the five, openness to experience is the one that most defies easy description, but beyond the literal translation, it measures intellectual curiosity, creativity, and valuing aesthetic experiences.

当然，宗教信仰和解释的各个方面也会影响接受进化。Most people think of denominational affiliation as having a strong influence, and while we did find a significant influence there, most of the impact of religion on evolution acceptance seems to be related to individual’s intrinsic religiosity, or the way they use religion to guide their daily choices and values.

尽管这些发现使我们对了解因素如何在个人选择接受或拒绝进化生物学的选择中有很好的了解，但它们只是一个开始。我们目前正在研究一项研究，该研究表明个人如何改变他们对进化的接受以及上面在大学入门生物学教育一年中所描述的因素。我们还更详细地研究了科学本质的不同因素导致进化接受。

It is our hope that these studies, followed by a larger study comparing science and non-science students, will help us to develop curricular interventions that can meet students where they are and help lead them towards an understanding and acceptance rather than denial of scientific knowledge.