Teaching Evolution and Natural Selection by Answering Questions

Teaching Evolution and Natural Selection by Answering Questions First and Placing Conclusions in Scientific Context Mike Phillips Geology Professor Illinois Valley Community College

Why Do Myths & Misrepresentations Persist? It is often easier to reject the seemingly complex science rather than accommodate the conclusions. n conflict with personal philosophy n misunderstanding of the science n disagreement with the implications n the perceived cost of acceptance outweighs and understood benefits

Barriers to New Ideas “…information consistent with a preferred conclusion is examined less critically than information inconsistent with a preferred conclusion, and consequently, less information is required to reach the former than the latter. ” Ditto & Lopez, 1992, Motivated Skepticism: Use of Differential Decision Criteria for Preferred and Nonpreferred Conclusions, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 63, No. 4, 568584

Barriers to New Ideas “…across age groups, scientific reasoning was used to reject evidence that contradicted prior beliefs; relatively cursory reasoning was used to accept belief-consistent evidence. “Biased reasoning was more common among middle-aged and older adults than among young adults. ” Klaczynski & Robinson, 2000, Personal Theories, Intellectual Ability, and Epistemological Beliefs: Adult Age Differences in Everyday Reasoning Biases, Psychology and Aging, Vol. 15, No. 3. 400 -416

Barriers to New Ideas “…for incongruent evidence…Cognitive vigilance and accuracy motivation increase, evidence representations are focused on logical coherence, and sophisticated reasoning abilities are activated. “A search for that reasoning strategy most likely to yield satisfactory results (i. e. , rejection of the unfavorable evidence) then ensues. If no such strategy is found, processing reverts back…and developmentally primitive strategies are used to reject the evidence. ” Klaczynski & Robinson, 2000

Barriers to New Ideas “…when confronted with an incompatible argument to evaluate, people will engage in a deliberative search of memory in an attempt to retrieve material for use in refuting the position advocated. “Because most of the retrieved material will be refutational in nature, there will be a bias to judge the argument as weak. ” Edwards & Smith, 1996, A Disconfirmation Bias in the Evaluation of Arguments, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 71, No. 1, p. 5 -2

Barriers to New Ideas “…ideological subgroups failed to update their beliefs when presented with corrective information that runs counter to their predispositions. Indeed, in several cases…corrections actually strengthened misperceptions among the most strongly committed subjects. ” Nyhan & Reifler, 2010, When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions, Political Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 303330

Implications for Presenting New Ideas l The brain will do its best to defend against new ideas that are incompatible with firmly held beliefs. l When conclusions are presented first, as a structural frame to provide context for the data, personal bias may cause a rejection of subsequent supporting information.

Is There Any Hope? “There is considerable evidence that people are more likely to arrive at conclusions that they want to arrive at, but their ability to do so is constrained by their ability to construct seemingly reasonable justifications for these conclusions. ” Kunda, 1990, The Case for Motivated Reasoning, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 108, No. 3, 480 -498

Hope… “…when confronted with a compatible argument, people will allocate fewer processing resources to its scrutiny and will be more inclined to accept the argument at face value or judge it to be strong, or both. ” Edwards & Smith, 1996

Hope… “If evidence is theory congruent… Cognitive vigilance, accuracy motivation, and efforts to prevent memory interference are low; the data are assimilated into theory; and arguments for evidence acceptance are often superficial. ” Klaczynski & Robinson, 2000

Hope… “For analytically oriented individuals, the outcome of reviewing theoryrelevant evidence depends on the quality of the evidence and may lead to theory maintenance or theory revision. ” Klaczynski & Robinson, 2000

What to Do? l Avoid triggering n Disconfirmation bias n Backfire effect

What to Do? l Identify firmly held beliefs & triggers l Present congruent information as a foundation l Frame arguments as compatible with beliefs

Application l Collect Questions l Provide Historical Context l Present Core Evidence n focus on the congruent & compatible l Build up to the Conclusion

Collect Questions l Identify the audience l People saving questions n Have trouble focusing n Might maintain a hostile mood l Discuss myths and misperceptions n Audience can begin to discard n Not “straw men”

Collect Questions l Provide cards to arriving audience l Prompt for positive & negative questions l Sort quickly and respond to some l Use the remainder to frame the presentation l Set a positive, respectful tone

Dealing With The Cards l Use outline to sort l Build a history n Develop categories n Sort quickly n Identify key concepts l The first time is the worst

Dealing With The Cards l Cards/questions – common responses n monkey-human relationship n variety of religious views n naturalism n “the strongest survive”

Provide Historical Context l People respond to stories l People relate to struggle l Provides a frame of reference l Presents many myths & misperceptions as valid but out-ofdate l Scientists are protagonists

Provide Historical Context l Tell the story l Describe the original understanding l Set up the problem(s) l Stop at key waypoints l Highlight evidence that was surprising at the time l Build up to the conclusion

Present First Evidence First l Models good science l Builds the historical chain l The early evidence convinced the early skeptics l Presenting conclusions first n appears to be a priori n triggers cognitive barriers n removes context

Example Unit Structure l Historical Geology l Collect Questions l Story of Darwin as a Frame l The Evidence - “Origin” as a guide n for evolution: rocks, fossils, anatomy, genetics n for natural selection: selective breading, natural conditions, mutations, populations

Historical Geology Intro l Reading the rocks l Reading the fossils l Interpreting rock forming environments l Relative dating l Absolute dating l History of the Earth l Cladistic relationships of fossils

Evolution & Natural Selection Unit l Collect Students’ Questions l Story of Darwin & Development of Theory n Darwin’s education n Voyage of the Beagle l collection of fossils & live organisms l observation of global & temporal diversity n Collection of more data n Publication of Origin

Evidence for Evolution l Rock Record l Fossil Record l Geographic Distribution of Life l Anatomy & Physiology l Genetics l Cladistic Analysis

Organic Evolution: Conclusions l the characteristics of populations of living organisms have changed through time n life has become more complex n life has become more diverse n all life is related n this is accepted as a factual observation l the interpretation of the relationships between organisms is being expanded & refined

Missing links!!! l the “link” between two fossil species OR between a fossil species and a living species l PRESERVATION AS A FOSSIL IS RARE! many “links” found (it’s just a matter of time and effort) l however: each “gap” filled creates two new “gaps” l

Question l What is the mechanism that resulted in the evolution of life?

Evidence for Natural Selection l populations of organisms display a variety of characteristics l genetics l artificial selection – domestic plants & animals l natural selection n environmental stresses & opportunities n isolation of populations

Conclusion l The variety of conditions in the natural environment results in natural selection of populations which, in turn, is responsible for biological evolution.

Randomness l mutations are random l evolution is not random l natural selection is not random l favorable mutations survive through reproduction

Interesting Details l Divergence & Speciation l Extinction l Convergence l Homology & Vestigial Organs l Coevolution & Symbiogenisis l Phyletic Gradualism & Punctuated Equilibrium l How did it start? l Evolution has no end l Nothing is too complex to investigate.

Key Points l Identify firmly held beliefs & triggers l Present congruent information as a foundation l Frame arguments as compatible with beliefs

Thank You! Mike Phillips Illinois Valley Community College mike_phillips@ivcc. edu http: //www. ivcc. edu/phillips