Colin Foster
Creationism as a misconception: socio-cognitive conflict in the teaching of evolution
Foster, Colin
Authors
Abstract
This position paper argues that students' understanding and acceptance of evolution may be supported, rather than hindered, by classroom discussion of creationism. Parallels are drawn between creationism and other scientific misconceptions, both of the scientific community in the past and of students in the present. Science teachers frequently handle their students' misconceptions as they arise by offering appropriate socio-cognitive conflict, which highlights reasons to disbelieve one idea and to believe another. It is argued that this way of working, rather than outlawing discussion, is more scientific and more honest. Scientific truth does not win the day by attempting to deny its opponents a voice but by engaging them with evidence. Teachers can be confident that evolution has nothing to fear from a free and frank discussion in which claims can be rebutted with evidence. Such an approach is accessible to children of all ages and is ultimately more likely to drive out pre-scientific superstitions. It also models the scientific process more authentically and develops students' ability to think critically.
Citation
Foster, C. (2012). Creationism as a misconception: socio-cognitive conflict in the teaching of evolution. International Journal of Science Education, 34(14), https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2012.692102
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Sep 1, 2012 |
Deposit Date | Apr 15, 2014 |
Publicly Available Date | Apr 15, 2014 |
Journal | International Journal of Science Education |
Print ISSN | 0950-0693 |
Electronic ISSN | 1464-5289 |
Publisher | Routledge |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 34 |
Issue | 14 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2012.692102 |
Keywords | Creationism, Evolution, Socio-cognitive conflict, Misconceptions, Classroom discussion |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1006612 |
Publisher URL | http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09500693.2012.692102 |
Files
Colin_Fostera--Creationism_as_a_Misconception.pdf
(108 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Downloadable Citations
About Repository@Nottingham
Administrator e-mail: discovery-access-systems@nottingham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search