Starting at the Beginning: Student Misconceptions About Evolutionary Theory as Assessed on the First Day of Class

Abstract

This study examines what prior knowledge and misconceptions about evolutionary theory students bring with them into an introductory biological anthropology course. One hundred and fifty-three students completed short, anonymous surveys about evolution on the first day of class before any content was discussed. Of a possible seven points, the average score was 3.42, indicating that students overall had an incomplete understanding of evolutionary theory. The only demographic variables that were significantly correlated with the scores were sex and previous exposure to college-level biology. This sample of students performed comparably to students from other universities in similar studies, suggesting that these students’ preexisting deficit in understanding evolution is not confined to Arkansas, the southeast, or other regions of the country reporting low acceptance of evolution and high levels of religious participation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kathryn King

Kathryn King ([email protected]) is an associate professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas.