K-8 Educators Perceptions and Preparedness for Teaching Evolution Topics

Abstract

Many science education standards mandate teaching evolution concepts in the K-8 curriculum. Yet, not all K-8 certified educators embrace the notion of teaching evolution content Factors influencing K-8 teacher engagement with evolution curriculum include evolution familiarity and personal beliefs conflicts. With this in mind, we investigated the perceptions and beliefs about evolution of educators who had completed a science and mathematics education master’s degree. Our quantitative and qualitative data indicate some participants did not feel prepared or responsible for teaching evolution content. The discussion of our study results and implications was done in the context of achieving science learning standards.