Linking climate change and evolution in pre-service science teacher education: What is its' current status? & Where do we need to go?

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1 Linking climate change and evolution in pre-service science teacher education: What is its' current status? & Where do we need to go? July 10, 1925 Deborah Tippins Norm Thomson Len Bloch Shannon Duboise Haslam allows evolution bill to become law House Bill 368/Senate Bill 893 encourages students to question accepted scientific theories listing as examples evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and cloning and it protects teachers from punishment if they teach creationism. April 10, 2012 The Regional STEM Institute of Teaching and Learning The University of Georgia SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2012 Classic Center, Athens, Georgia

2 TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SB 0893 by *Watson, Beavers, Johnson. (*HB 0368 by *Dunn, White, Hensley, Faison, Lollar, Evans, McCormick, Shipley, Weaver, Eldridge, Rich, Maggart, Carr, Alexander, Floyd, Miller D, Hill, Holt, Butt, Sparks, Powers, Cobb, Roach, Parkinson.) This bill prohibits the state board of education and any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or principal or administrator from prohibiting any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught, such as evolution and global warming. This bill also requires such persons and entities to endeavor to: (1) Create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues; and (2) Assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies. ON MARCH 19, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 368 FOR SENATE BILL 893, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 368, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that the bill would apply to scientific subjects and science courses "taught under the curriculum framework developed by the state board of education." This amendment requires the department of education to notify all directors of schools of the provisions of the bill by "the start of the school term", instead of by "the start of the school term"

3 Reasons for Study From science: One of the key questions in the interdisciplinary sciences is how the environment, and specifically climate, shaped the evolution of our species and that of our close relatives. From science teachers: Evolution in the Making Creationism -> Intelligent Design -> Teach the Controversy -> Critical Thinking

4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS PHASE I (COMPLETED) What are the big ideas that science teachers need to be aware of in order to understand evolution? What are the big ideas that science teachers need to be aware of in order to understand climate change? What do pre-service science teachers think they need to understand about the relationship between evolution and climate change? PHASE II (ON- GOING) What is being currently being taught with respect to evolution and climate change and their integration in undergraduate science courses that are required of our pre-service science teachers in their textbooks, lectures, and laboratories? What conceptual approaches are used to teach about evolution, climate change and their integration? How do the course instructors justify the conceptual approaches they use to address the topics of evolution and climate change? What evidence do the course instructors offer to support their justifications for the inclusion or exclusion of specific topics focused on evolution and climate change?

5 Methods

6 Learning About (Hominin) Evolution Can Be Summarized as Consisting of 7 Major Dimensions there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don t know we don t know Deep time Orbital Forcing Climate Change Speciation & Extinction Fossilization Phylogenetics Nature of Science

7 Participants 6 Pre-service teachers in Science Education 4 biology majors & 2 earth science majors 2 High school science (1 biology, 1 anatomy& physiology) classes in local districts Procedure Introduce a model unit on human evolution and climate change to the preservice teachers Interview paired (3 X 2 = 6) pre-service teachers on their knowledge about topics relevant to teaching human evolution based on the 7 major dimensions while developing their unit Classroom implementation of the units Interview paired (3 X 2 = 6) pre-service teachers on their knowledge about topics relevant to teaching human evolution based on the 7 major dimensions after the implementation of their units Group interview of shared learned experiences about teaching the units

8 How do we know what we think we know in science? Observation: Making a note of or reording a fact using the primary senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, or touch) or using an instrument to detect an object or the occurrence of or event.. Inference: To make an inference is to explain or conclude something based on a direct observation or using data based on an observation. Hypothesis: A formalized statement or explanation for an observed natural phenomenon that is testable. Natural Selection: Is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become more or less common in a population of organisms as a function of differential reproduction or survival. It is a key mechanism of evolution.

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10 Milankovitch Cycles

11 Pleistocene 50 Ka

12 PALEOCLIMATE Foraminifera: Ratio of 18 O to 16 O reflects ice accumulation Temperature decline since 50 Ma Eocene Oligocene cooling Mid-Late Miocene cooling Expansion of modern grasslands Zachos et al. 2001

13 Taphonomy the process of fossilization Courtesey A.K. Behrensmeyer

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15 The relative age of fossils is useful, but fossils provide reliable historical data only if we can determine their absolute age. A number of methods are used to date fossils. Dating Method Electron Spin Resonance Fission Track Obsidian Hydration Dating Fossils Age Range (years) million present Material Dated Bone, tooth enamel, cave deposits Volcanic rock Obsidian (volcanic glass) Amino acid racemization Thermoluminescence Uranium/Thorium Carbon 14 Potassium/Argon 1 million 2000 less than Less than million Bone Pottery, fired clay, bricks, burned rock Bone, tooth dentine Bone, shell, charcoal Volcanic rocks

16 All of our ancestries are African!

17 Ardipitheucs ramidus ARDI 4.4 mya Austalopithicus afarensis Lucy 3.2 mya Homo habilis Handy Man 1.8 mya Sahelanthropus tchadensis Toumai 6 7 mya Homo erectus Upright Man 1.2 mya Homo sapiens 160 kya

18 Hypotheses* Habitat/Directional/Variability/Adaptability/Turnover/Fallback Foods Species responses to climate change represents the principal initiator of evolutionary change. Climate Change => Species Change or Extinction Evolutionary change is a consequence of natural selection on mutational variation in populations. See Potts, R Environmental hypotheses of Pliocene human evolution. In: R. Bobe, Z. Alemseged, A. Behrensmeyer, Eds.). Hominin environments in the East African Pliocene: An assessment of the faunal evidence. Dordrecht: Springer. Caveats Umbrella Hypothesis: All hypotheses should be treated with caution, although they are parsimonious, to explain a multitude of unique features of a species as the outcome of a single adaptive breakthrough should be carefully reviewed for its assumptions and evidence. Occam s razor: entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.

19 Kingston, J. (2007). Shifting adaptive landscapes: Progress and challenges in reconstructing early hominid environments. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 50:

20 Sahelanthropus tchadensis The Fossil Record of Human Evolution Millions of Years Ago Orrorin tugenensis Kenyanthropus platyops H. rudolfensis H. neanderthalensis H. heidelbergensis H. sapiens Ardipithecus kadabba Ar. ramidus Au. garhi H. ergaster Au. sediba H. erectus Australopithecus anamensis Au. afarensis Homo habilis H. floresiensis Paranthropus aethiopicus P. boisei Au. africanus P. robustus Stone tools Oldowan Use of Fire Acheulean Mousterian

21 Sahelanthropus tchadensis The Fossil Record of Human Evolution Millions of Years Ago Orrorin tugenensis Kenyanthropus platyops H. rudolfensis H. neanderthalensis H. heidelbergensis H. sapiens Ardipithecus kadabba Ar. ramidus Au. garhi H. ergaster Au. sediba H. erectus Australopithecus anamensis Au. afarensis Homo habilis H. floresiensis Paranthropus aethiopicus P. boisei Au. africanus P. robustus Stone tools Oldowan Use of Fire Acheulean Mousterian

22 Summary of Findings

23 Amongst our findings, we found that the pre-service teachers, in their science content preparation courses, are not experiencing interdisciplinary learning that would allow them to effectively include human evolution and climate change in their instruction.

24 In the process of designing and teaching their lessons, the preservice teachers struggled to create activities and experiences that reflect the most recent scientific understandings of the evolutionary consequences of climate change The pre-service teachers were able to infuse some aspects of argumentation (weighing evidence, evaluating scientific claims) into their lessons but with mixed difficulty.

25 The pre-service teachers entered the 10 th grade classroom expecting to encounter some resistance to instructional lessons focused on evolution and climate change. Much to their surprise, they did not encounter the type of resistance that they expected as portrayed in the media.

26 We see new challenges for science educators emerging in the preparation of science teachers for the 21 st Century such that there is more integration of science courses that address contemporary science problems, e.g. linking evolution and climate change. And, pre-service science educators need to ensure that our future teachers enter the profession prepared to teach such courses.

27 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study was supported by the Office of STEM Education at the University of Georgia. Thanks to all the participant students.

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