ABSTRACT
Although evolution is universally recognized by scientists as a core idea providing conceptual coherence and structure to the myriad patterns and processes documented across the tree of life, it remains one of the most challenging biology topics to teach, learn, and assess. This chapter focuses on conceptual issues relating to the teaching and learning of evolutionary change and is grounded in research on student thinking. Substantial literature on students’ conceptual obstacles has produced many insights into why student learning is difficult to achieve. Teleology, typological thinking, intentionality, use-inheritance, evolutionary ‘pressures’, and other intuitive ideas have been widely documented barriers to evolutionary understanding. However, studies of evolutionary reasoning patterns across age groups, nations, and expertise levels have revealed that these learning obstacles are often fragmented and idiosyncratically evoked in particular types of evolutionary situations and contexts. Robust explanatory models (normative or naïve) have been shown to be the exception in novice learners. Conceptual fragmentation and context-sensitivity help to explain why lineage-specific curricular examples (e.g., Darwin’s finches, antibiotic resistance) often fail to generate robust, abstract models of evolutionary processes. Therefore, cross-case comparisons, highlighting surface feature dissimilarity while also illustrating causal unity, are essential to fostering robust understanding of evolutionary change.
