A paradigm shift away from viewing evolution primarily in terms of adaptation – the “adaptationist programme” of Gould and Lewontin – began in evolutionary research more than 35 years ago, but that shift has yet to occur within evolutionary education research or within teaching standards. We review three instruments that can help education researchers and educators undertake this paradigm shift. The instruments assess how biology undergraduates understand three evolutionary processes other than natural selection: genetic drift, dominance relationships among allelic pairs, and evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). Testing with these instruments reveals that students often explain a diversity of evolutionary mechanisms incorrectly by invoking misconceptions about natural selection. We propose that increasing the emphasis on teaching evolutionary processes other than natural selection could result in a better understanding of natural selection and a better understanding of all evolutionary processes. Finally, we propose two strategies for accomplishing this goal, interleaving natural selection with other evolutionary processes and the development of bridging analogies to describe evolutionary concepts.
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February 2016
Research Article|
February 01 2016
Beyond the Adaptationist Legacy: Updating Our Teaching to Include a Diversity of Evolutionary Mechanisms
Rebecca M. Price,
Rebecca M. Price
2REBECCA M. PRICE is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington Bothell, Bothell, WA 98011; e-mail: beccap@uw.edu.
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Kathryn E. Perez
Kathryn E. Perez
1KATHRYN E. PEREZ is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539; e-mail: perezke@gmail.com.
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The American Biology Teacher (2016) 78 (2): 101–108.
Citation
Rebecca M. Price, Kathryn E. Perez; Beyond the Adaptationist Legacy: Updating Our Teaching to Include a Diversity of Evolutionary Mechanisms. The American Biology Teacher 1 February 2016; 78 (2): 101–108. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2016.78.2.101
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