Evolution Education Working Group

The Evolution Education working group met on July 10 – 12, 2006 at NESCent to discuss major issues in evolution education.  The meeting was based on the National Conference on the Teaching of Evolution held in 2000, which resulted in initiatives and products such as the development of the Understanding Evolution website. The idea behind the 2006 meeting was to provide an opportunity for the evolution education community to reassess the field and plan new initiatives. Additionally, the Education and Outreach Group at NESCent hoped to identify a project that would be appropriate for Education and Outreach to pursue. The group represented a broad spectrum of specialties including evolution and education research, policy development, and informal and formal education.

One idea from this meeting was to focus on evolution education at the undergraduate level. This project would address pedagogy as well as curriculum and provide professors with the tools to actively engage their students in an effective learning experience. A smaller group led by Craig Nelson and Sam Donovan will meet for the first time in Spring 2007 to identify specific objectives and develop an implementation plan. For example, one goal may be to integrate evolution across the biology curriculum. A possible approach would be to develop a series of examples of current and applied evolution from which educators may select for use in their own courses. The Education and Outreach Group plans to work with this smaller group by providing support for meeting, as well as participating in the specific projects.

Participants

Brian Alters, Evolution Education Research Centre, Montreal, Canada

Alan Berkowitz, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Cornell, NY

Rodger Bybee, BSCS, CO

Judy Diamond, University of Nebraska, NE

Sam Donovan, BIOQuest/University of Pittsburgh, PA

Kirsten Fisher, NESCent, NC

Margaret Evans, University of Michigan, MI

Douglas Futuyma, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

Yolanda George, AAAS, DC

Greg Gibson, NESCent, NC

Kristin Jenkins, NESCent, NC

John Jungck, BIOQuest/Beloit College, WI

Jay Labov, National Research Council, DC

Dennis Liu, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, MD

Susan Musante, American Institute of Biological Sciences, DC

Craig Nelson, Evolution and the Nature of Science Institute, IN

Richard O’Grady, American Institute of Biological Sciences, DC

Rob Pennock, Michigan State, MI

Patrick Phillips, EvoNet, OR

Jenn Piascik, North Carolina State University, NC

Samantha Price, NESCent, NC

Malcolm Shug, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC

Judy Scotchmoor, University of California Museum of Paleontology, CA

Eugenie Scott, National Center for Science Education, CA

Kathleen Smith, NESCent, NC

Mark Terry, Northwest School, WA

Gordon Uno, University of Oklahoma, OK

Jory Weintraub, NESCent, NC

Martin Weiss, NY Hall of Science, NY