Outreach and Engagement Highlights

CU Program Aims to Improve Teaching of Evolution

Photo courtesy of Hillary Rosner

Evolution is a fundamental building block of biology that underpins our understanding of the diversity of life today and how we, as humans, came to be who we are. Despite these truisms, almost half of Americans do not “believe” in evolution, public-opinion surveys show.

The Teaching Evolution Outreach Program at the University of Colorado Boulder aims to broaden the understanding of evolution in Colorado communities. The program’s focus is a two-day workshop held each August for K-12 teachers.

Evolution is not consistently taught in K-12 schools due to its difficulty to teach and the controversy that follows the subject. But fully understanding the ever-changing human condition and the characteristics of life requires knowledge of evolution.

Andrew Martin, a professor in the CU-Boulder Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, directs the outreach program and puts it this way: “I think of evolution as the scaffolding, like a tree, that you can put all the information about the world on that makes sense of the planet we live on.”

Educating children about evolution when they begin to learn biology will give them a framework to build upon which will help them understand the world they live in and increase their ability for science and reasoning in general.

Biology teachers face a challenging task with respect to evolution. The subject remains highly controversial in the United States, making it difficult to approach in the classroom.

This year, the Colorado Legislature considered an “Academic Freedom Act” for K-12 and higher education. The bill states that “the teaching of some scientific subjects, such as biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning, can cause controversy….”

In February, the bill was postponed indefinitely—effectively killed—by the House Committee on Education. Other such bills have been introduced in many other states in the continuing effort to circumscribe the teaching of evolution in the American classroom.

The passing of such legislation would allow teachers to misrepresent evolution as one of a number of competing theories of the origin of life and to enable some lawmakers to undermine scientific theories that contradict their beliefs.

When Martin is asked if there is any “controversy” in evolution, his reply is simple: “There is none.”

His view is echoed across the scientific community, and, moreover, it is the only theory that has stood up to extensive, and repeated, testing. All respected academics agree that evolution is one of the established facts in science. Darwin’s Theory of natural selection has been accepted within all branches of biology and plays a significant role in other scientific disciplines such as psychology and anthropology.

The Teaching Evolution Outreach program began in 2006 and aims to encourage teachers in K-12 to be confident in educating students of all ages on evolution. Funding is provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fellows in K-12 Education (or GK-12) Program.

GK-12 supports fellowships for graduate students in STEM fields, giving these students a vital opportunity to introduce cutting-edge science into the classroom. At CU-Boulder, graduate students from ecology and evolutionary biology are responsible for coordinating and running the workshop.

The outreach program has three main goals: 1) to integrate educators from all grades with students at CU-Boulder to strengthen the scientific community in Colorado; 2) to train educators in the effective teaching of evolution in the classroom; and 3) to provide educators with the skills to implement learning activities for children of all ages.

The August weekend workshops are offered to K-12 educators throughout Colorado. During the two days, graduate students will introduce teachers to learning goals and discuss activities that can be used in the classroom.

Subjects covered include toxins in plants, the evolution of disease, genetic engineering, a comparative study of primate skulls and antibiotics resistance. For each activity, teachers will be provided with the necessary skills and information to create an interesting and exciting lesson to engage the children and establish effecting learning.

Feedback from attendees has been extremely positive, with teachers coming away with an excellent background and basis to teach evolution in the classroom. Teachers from colleges, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and non-profit organizations have attended the workshop. The number of educators attending the program has been steadily increasing since its introduction in 2006.

Martin hopes to extend the program further east into the rural areas of the state where evolution is not commonly taught. In the east of Colorado, agriculture is a prominent industry and is an area in which the effects of evolution can be clearly seen.

For example, if pesticides are widely utilized to protect crops, insects will quickly evolve to become resistant to pesticides. This is a recurring problem that has been an issue for crop farmers for generations.

Knowledge of genetic variation and understanding evolutionary biology provides farmers with strategies to work with these adaptations to minimize pest damage and essentially secure the U.S. food supply.

This article, by Sarah McKee, originally appeared in the College of Arts and Sciences' Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.

More Highlights

Displaying 1 to 10 of 63 Records

CU Program Aims to Improve Teaching of Evolution - May 7th, 2013
Evolution is a fundamental building block of biology that underpins our understanding of the diversity of life today and how we, as humans, came to be who we are. Despite these truisms, almost half of Americans do not “believe” in evolution, public-opinion surveys show. The Teaching Evolution Outreach Program at the...
Untold Stories: Grassroots Project Aims to Record the History of Latinos in Boulder County - Apr 29th, 2013
History professor Marjorie McIntosh was shocked— in her own words appalled— to discover the lack of Latino inclusion in the prevailing histories of Boulder County. “With a few small exceptions, Latinos are virtually invisible in the standard histories of Boulder County,” she said. “For me, it’s a moral issue. What we...
An Afternoon at the Museum: After School Program Introduces Girls to Science - Apr 19th, 2013
From archaeology to entomology, the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History has a lot to offer visitors of all ages, but not everyone has ready access to the museum and its resources. Girls At the Museum Exploring Science (GAMES) is a unique program that brings fourth and fifth grade girls...
Adding Color to Chemistry: CU Teach is Training Tomorrow’s STEM Teachers - Apr 17th, 2013
Caleb Ulliman’s father is an engineer and for a long time he thought he would become an engineer too, but that was before he took a one-credit CU Teach course. “One thing led to another, and all of a sudden I was headed down the path toward becoming a teacher,” he...
‘Tick, Tock, Poe’ Stages Lessons Against Violence - Mar 19th, 2013
Four travelers flee to the mountains to escape a terrible plague — a Red Death. There they meet at an ancient, crumbling abbey and begin to share tales of mystery and imagination to pass the time. A man plots deadly revenge against a friend he believes has betrayed him; hearing the...
Dare to Dream: Public Achievement Inspires Youth as Community Leaders - Feb 1st, 2013
Area youth did not grow up during Martin Luther King Jr.’s lifetime, but they continue to carry a torch for his ideals. Generations after his death, MLK’s legacy lives on through the young people who are devoted to civic service and those who helped spearhead the MLK Day March for...
Fine-Tuning: French Pronunciation Reigns in Le Roi Soleil Theatre - Jan 17th, 2013
Aris Sheiner isn’t French, but he plays Frenchmen on stage. The University of Colorado Boulder sophomore is a self-described Francophile with a passion for the French language, so he jumped at the chance to take part in a unique course that allowed him to fine-tune his French and play the...
Literary Brunches Invite Intellectual Discussion and Occasional Poetic Rap - Dec 14th, 2012
Unwittingly rhyming has often been a fun subject for those who lightheartedly consider themselves a poet who “didn’t even know it,” but as Ed Rivers, professor of English, points out, it is indeed possible to compose accidental but beautiful poetry. “Random composition can be a wellspring of creativity,” he told students,...
From Mozart to Mos Def: Hip Hop in the Classroom - Dec 13th, 2012
Not just anyone can vividly trace a thread weaving through a zebra’s stripes, a partly crumbling brick wall, a Jackson Pollock painting, a Mozart piano sonata, Dr. Seuss’ “Fox in Socks,” Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” and even a rap duet by Mos Def and Slick Rick. CU-Boulder’s Adam Bradley can,...
Waste Not: INVST Students Dedicate Their Semesters to Community Service Projects - Dec 10th, 2012
On average, 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste while one-sixth of the population is considered food insecure. Recognizing the interconnectedness of these two issues, students at the University of Colorado Boulder are partnering with local organizations and businesses to redirect otherwise wasted food and make a...