A Study of Science Teachers’ Attitude Toward Evolution in Taiwan
Liang-Rong Hsu
email: steve@mail.ntctc.edu.tw
Department of Science Education, National Taichung University
Abstract
Although the evolution debate began in western society, reforms in science education in the western
world have deeply affected the science curriculum in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to
explore high school science teachers’ teaching attitudes toward the evolution. The subjects of the
study included junior high school teachers (N=252) and senior high school teachers (N=96) in the
Taichung area of Taiwan. The study used the seven point Likert’s scale questionnaire modified by
the researcher to include thirteen items on evolution. Each item included two statements, one
representing evolution and the other representing objections by creationism. The subjects were
asked to respond to the degree of understanding and degree of support, which were stated in each
item. The methods of analysis included correlation and the three-ways ANCOVA (degree of support
as the dependent variable, degree of understanding as the co-variable and teaching subject, school
level and academic degree as independent variables). The results indicate there is a significant
correlation between the degrees of understanding and the degrees of support in nine items.
However, there was a significant interactive effect or main effect in four items as follows: ‘Is
evolution a fact or simply a theory?’, ‘Is the idea of natural selection a tautology?’, ‘Were monkeys
the ancestors of human?’, ‘Was the eye evolved?’. Finally, the present study offers various
suggestions for teaching evolution, science teacher education and further study.
Keywords: Evolution, Science Teachers, Support, Understanding
Introduction
 Long term debate in western world -- evolution vs. creation
 Science ←→ Religion? or competition theory ?
What should we teach?
 In past two decades, numerous surveys of the general public, college students, and the high
school biological teachers have been performed to determine their view on the
evolution-creation debate.
 Eglin(1983)：Georgia 128 science teacher
28% had taught creation, 30% approve of teaching creation
have no relationship with religion, age, teaching experience
 Affannato(1986)：999 high school biology teachers
45.2%: should teach creation; 15.2%: both are scientific explanation
 Roelfs(1987)：Arkansas & Missouri 700 high school biology teachers
65%: evolution is simply a theory;
8%: evolution is a theory and a fact
1
31%：taught evolution and other theory
 Zimmerman(1991): Ohio, 730 school board presidents
accept evolution: 49.7%; should teach creation: 52.7%; should teach evolution: 67.3%。
 Gallup(1993): 47% American accept creation, 46% support evolution
 Shankar & Skoog(1993): Texas, 654 high school biology teachers
28%: had taught creation
69%: should teach creation
 Brem, Ranney & Schindel(2003)：118 college students
67.4%: evolutionist; 22.9%: should teach evolution alone; 28.0%: should teach both
 Evolution in Taiwan
 religious belief: Catholicism--1.8%；Christianity--3.7%
(age>20, in 2000)
Taoism--17.7%；Buddhism--127.9%；none--21.8%；others--26.1%
 teach evolution in high school, exclude creation
 society and science education has no debate on creation and evolution
 science education is deeply impacted by western world
SAPA; SCIS; ESS; BSCS; SPSC; CHEM
Nature Of Science, STS, Constructivism…
 Research question
 Provide the viewpoint of oriental science teachers
 How science teachers evaluate different arguments? evolution ←→ creation;
 not just approve or against ; Understanding ←→ Support
Method
 Survey and Interview
 Survey: Three way ANCOVA
Independent variable
1.school level： Junior high school, Senior high school
2.subject teaching：biology, non-biology
3.academic level：bachelor, master
Dependent variable-- degree of support
Co-variable-- degree of understanding
 Sampling for survey
Population：Taichung city and Taichung county
Junior high school：745，senior high school：466
Subject： half of the population
Total return： Junior--252; Senior--96
bachelor
master
total
Total samples of survey
Senior high (N=96)
Junior high (N=252)
biology
non-biology biology
non-biology
27
26
87
88
11
32
43
34
38
58
130
122
Non-biology: teach chemistry, physic or earth science
2
(57.5%)
total
228
120
348
 Sampling for interview
10 for Taichung city; 15 for Taichung county
 These teachers are volunteers who had finished the survey.
 Survey questionnaire
Likert 7-point scale；13 items total
 each item include two statements (arguments), one representing evolution and the other
representing objections by creationism. The designed item was based on Haught (2001),
Skehan & Nelson (2000) and Rennie (2002).
 Topics of items:
1. Is evolution a fact or simply a theory ?
2. Is the idea of natural selection a tautology?
3. Were monkeys the ancestors of human?
4. Did the protein spring up by chance?
5. Does the scientists doubt the truth of evolution?
6. The second laws of thermodynamics.
7. The mutations and the evolution.
8. The microevolution and the origin of new species.
9. Who has seen a new species evolve?
10. Are there any fossils of transitional species?
11. Vestige organ
12. Affinity organ
13. Was the eye evolved?
 An example of Item 1：Is evolution a fact or simply a theory?
A: Although no one observed the process of evolution and have no direct evidence, the
indirect evidence indicates that evolution is a fact. Examples such as fossil records
and other evidence testify the organisms have evolved through time.
B: Evolution is simply a theory and not a fact because it has no evidence from biological
experiment. All of the arguments of evolution are just an inference that base on
indirect evidence.
1. What is your understanding of the two arguments?
don’t understand ─→
understand ─→ completely understand
1□
2 □
3 □
4 □
5□
6 □
7□
2. Which argument do you support ?
argument B ←───
neutral
1□
2 □
3 □
4 □
3
───→ argument A
5□
6 □
7□
 Procedure
Document analysis
Design questionnaire
Expert review
pretest
Revise questionnaire
Revise questionnaire
α= .92
Data analysis (survey)
Carry on survey
Data analysis (interview)
interview
Results and Discussion
 The results of survey
Total average scores of the degree of support for evolution
Bachelor
bio
non-bio
Master
bio
non-bio
Total
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Junior
4.82
0.85
4.69
0.86
4.89
0.68
4.69
0.79
4.77
0.82
Senior
4.58
0.57
4.72
0.16
4.92
0.62
4.52
0.87
4.62
0.77
Total
4.76
0.79
4.68
0.86
4.89
0.66
4.61
0.83
4.73
0.81
The degree of support and understanding for evolution
Support
Mean SD
Items
1. Is a fact or a theory?
*2. Is natural selection a tautology?
*3. descend from monkeys?
*4. protein spring up by chance?
*5. scientists doubt the evolution?
*6. second law of thermodynamic
*7. mutations and the evolution
*8. Microevolution
9. Who had seen a new species evolve?
*10. fossils of transitional species
11. Vestige organ
12. Affinity organ
*13. could eye was evolved?
Total
4.52
5.06
5.36
5.11
4.68
4.63
5.35
5.20
3.58
4.34
4.09
4.63
4.85
4.73
2.08
1.62
1.78
1.80
1.69
1.63
1.69
1.72
1.86
1.74
1.84
1.81
1.78
0.81
understanding
Mean
SD
5.90
5.33
5.70
5.56
5.41
5.08
5.76
5.59
5.63
5.26
5.74
5.54
5.43
5.54
*significant correlation between the degrees of support and understanding
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1.11
1.32
1.24
1.25
1.32
1.43
1.13
1.20
1.22
1.38
1.17
1.20
1.30
0.92
 there was a significant interactive effect or main effect in four items
1. Is evolution a fact or simply a theory?
Results of three ways ANCOVA
Source
SS
df
MS
F
P
A
3.61
1
3.61
0.849
0.358
B
11.11
1
11.11
2.610
0.107
C
7.12
1
7.12
1.674
0.197
A*B
21.23
1
21.23
0.026
4.987*
A*C
0.72
1
0.72
0.168
0.682
B*C
3.60
1
3.60
0.846
0.358
A*B*C
4.52
1
4.52
1.062
0.303
Error
1442.82
339
4.26
Total
1496.90
347
A：teaching subject
B：school level C：academic degree
bio
Junior
Senior
Mean
4.24
5.28
non-bio
Mean
SD
.21
4.59
.27
4.42
SD
.19
.37
7
6
5
bio
4
non-bio
3
2
1
Junior
Senior
 Item 2. Is the idea of natural selection a tautology?
A: Natural selection could explain why different species have different advantage of
adapting. An example was the evidence that the fast-breeding of small-beaked finches
may control more of the food resources, but if slower-breeding of large-beaked
finches can more easily crush seeds, the advantage may tip to the slower breeders.
B: The argument of ‘fittest are those who survive, and those who survive are deemed
fittest’ was identified with ‘because A is B, so B is A’. This is a tautological argument,
which could not prove that evolution of species was through natural selection.
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Results of three ways ANCOVA
Source
SS
df
MS
F
P
A
7.728
1
7.728
3.183
0.075
B
10.184
1
10.184
0.041
4.194*
C
0.953
1
0.953
0.392
0.531
A*B
23.696
1
23.696
0.002
9.758*
A*C
0.007
1
0.007
0.003
0.957
B*C
3.354
1
3.354
1.381
0.241
A*B*C
13.799
1
13.799
0.018
5.682*
Error
823.233
339
2.428
Total
914.851
347
A：teaching subject
B：school level C：academic degree
Bachelor
Master
bio
non-bio
bio
non-bio
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Junior 4.96 0.17 5.19 0.17 5.57 0.24 4.80 0.27
Senior 4.63 0.30 5.52 0.31 3.79 0.47 5.27 0.28
Total
Mean SD
5.13 0.11
4.71 0.17
7
6
Bachelor bio
5
Bachelor non-bio
4
Master bio
3
Master non-bio
2
1
Junior
Senior
 Item 3. Were monkeys the ancestors of human?
A: Evolution does not claim that humans descended from monkeys, it states that both
have a common ancestor. Moreover, if new species evolve by splintering off from
parent species, it does not mean the parent species would be distinct.
B: If humans descended from monkeys, the monkeys should become distinct. Moreover,
if human and monkeys have a common ancestor, which is the ancestor? There is no
fossil evidence about the common ancestor.
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Results of three ways ANCOVA
Source
SS
df
MS
F
P
A
0.322
1
0.322
0.107
0.743
B
2.448
1
2.448
0.817
0.367
C
17.268
1
17.268
0.017
5.764*
A*B
0.114
1
0.114
0.038
0.845
A*C
11.347
1
11.347
3.787
0.052
B*C
3.735
1
3.735
1.247
0.265
A*B*C
17.580
1
17.580
0.016
5.868*
Error
1015.678
339
2.996
Total
1093.816
347
A：teaching subject
B：school level C：academic degree
Junior
Senior
Total
Bachelor
Master
bio
non-bio
bio
non-bio
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
5.47 0.19 5.24 0.19 5.65 0.27 5.64 0.30
4.42 0.33 5.37 0.34 6.20 0.52 5.18 0.31
5.12 (SD=0.14)
5.67 (SD=0.18)
7
6
5
Bachelor bio
Bachelor non-bio
4
Master bio
Master non-bio
3
2
1
Junior
Senior
13. Does the eye could have evolved?
Results of three ways ANCOVA
Source
SS
df
MS
F
P
A
0.066
1
0.066
0.021
0.884
B
19.168
1
19.168
0.013
6.234*
C
0.001
1
0.001
0.000
0.983
A*B
4.706
1
4.706
1.530
0.217
A*C
4.845
1
4.845
1.576
0.210
B*C
0.185
1
0.185
0.060
0.806
A*B*C
0.100
1
0.100
0.033
0.857
Error
1030.125
335
3.075
Total
1086.733
343
A：teaching subject
B：school level C：academic degree
Junior high school: 5.01 (SD=0.12)
Senior high school: 4.44 (SD=0.19)
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 The results of interview
Evaluating
Teachers’ evaluation of evolution in interview
Reason
Teacher
JMB01-D, JBB02-B, JBN15-B, JBN17-D,
JBN20-N (5)
JMB01-D, JBN11-D, JBB21-N,SBB24-N,
SBN25-N (5)
Natural selection
Fossil evidence
Totally accept
Partially accept
Not accept
Humans should have ancestor
JMB01-D, JBN09-N, SMN10-N, SMB22-N (4)
Mutation
JBB02-B, JBN03-N, JBN09-N, JBN15-B
SBB04-N, SMN18-D
(6)
By textbook
JBB02-B, JMN08-D
Have no reason
Tentative theory
JMN08-D, SMN05-N
Have no direct evidence
JMN12-B, JBN07-N, JBN19-N
(2)
(2)
JMB06-D, SBB13-N, JBN14-N, SMB23-N (4)
(3)
 Totally accept evolution
1. Natural selection
JMB01-D: I think the conception of natural selection is very important. It could
apply to real life…it’s good.
JBN15-B: I accept natural selection……there is evidence such as giraffes have
longer necks.
2. Fossil evidence
JBB21-N: There are so many fossil records that can prove evolution. Perhaps it was
wrong, but it’s a fact now.
SBN25-N: Although we could not observed the process of evolution, the fossil
records are enough to prove it’s true.
3. Humans should have ancestor
JMB09-N: Human should not produce by null, they should have an ancestor. I think
most possible is monkeys.
SMN10-N: There are so many picture and studies that show monkeys were
ancestors of human.
4. Mutation
JBN03-N: Mutation is a important factor of evolution…… mutation will produce
generations with more advantages.
SMN18-D: I agree that mutation was one of the factor of evolution.
5. By textbook
JBB02-B: Because the textbook told us evolution was right. I never doubt it.
 Partially accept evolution
JMB06-D: ‘Human and monkeys have a common ancestor’ is only a doctrine, it will
be revised….it (evolution) is a doctrine, not a law.
8
SBB13-N: The evolution is a consensus of biologist, not truth. It’s changeable.
 Not accept evolution
JMN12-B: Although so many people say evolution is correct ……but, how was life
created? Science can’t answer this question.
SBB13-N: It involves the history of biological change, history can’t reproduce…..we
will never know the truth of life.
evaluating
Acceptable
Teachers’ evaluation of creation in interview
Reason
Teacher
It’s a alternative idea
JBB02-B, JBN03-N, JMN08-D, JBN17-D,
SMB22-N (5)
Explain the origin of life
JMN12-B, SMN10-N, SBN25-N (3)
Have no evidence, illogical
JMB06-D, JBN09-N, JBN11-D, JBN14-N,
JBN15-B, JMB16-N, JBN20-N , SBB13-N
(8)
Not acceptable
JBN07-N, JBN19-N, JBB21-N, SBB04-N,
SMN05-N, SMN18-D, SMB23-N, SBB24-N
It’s religion, not science
(8)
Have no
comment
Don’t understand creation
JMB01-D (1)
 Creation is acceptable
1. It’s a alternative idea
JMN08-D: I accept evolution and creation, they are both reasonable.
SMB22-N: I will teach students there is an alternative idea…… creation is a
specific subject.
2. Explain the origin of life
JMN12-B: Science explain how creatures reproduce, creation explains how life was
created.
SMB10-N: The origin of life was created…although I approve of evolution.
 Creation is not acceptable
1. Have no evidence, illogical
JMN15-B: I think creation has no scientific evidence.
JMN16-N: Science should follow logic…..creation has no evidence……
2. It’s religion, not science
JBB21-N: …creation is a doctrine of religion, I can’t accept it.
SMN05-N: Creation is religion……it can’t explain how atoms combine to form
various molecular.
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Implication
1. Science teachers in the high schools of Taiwan are inclines to support evolution. But there are
interactive effects among school level, teaching subject and academic degree in four arguments.
2. Whether the survey subjects are teachers, students or administrator. It seems inappropriate
simply to ask whether they approve or disapprove of evolution-creation. Because evolution or
creation involves numerous claims or arguments that has leave room to discussion.
3. We should not expects students or teachers to be against evolution or creation, the most
important is teach the thinking skill(e.g. critical thinking), process skill(e.g. formulating
hypothesis, design experiment), nature of science (e.g. scientific knowledge is tentative, there
are more than one way of doing science) and scientific attitude (e.g. eliminate superstition,
suspension conclusion).
4. There are some dilemmas in science education, evolution-creation debate involve long term
issues: ‘which knowledge is most valuable’, ‘judgment criteria for what is science and
non-science’, ‘whose nature of science’. They only have consensus, have no clear cut solutions
for those issues.
5. Science curriculum and teacher education should not present evolution or creation by ‘final
form’ fashion. We should stop the fight and open our minds to discussion and any possibilities
solutions that are based on evidence and scientific reasoning.
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