Despite the importance of evolution to understand living phenomena, evolution teaching confronts several tensions, especially with respect to teachers' and students' religious beliefs. These aspects have been widely investigated in the USA and Europe. However, little empirical research has been done on this issue in Latin America, despite their…

During the 1930s there was a significant shift in the debate about African colonial education. Above all, somewhat discreetly hidden behind the formal language of the educational documents, is the question of the challenge presented to the traditional literary/religious missionary curriculum, or even to the "adaptationist" debate about…

The Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) has been extensively used in science education research for more than two decades. This study examines the fairness of MATE items based on religious convictions and academic majors. The multidimensional item response theory and differential item functioning analyses were run on data…

Evolution is the cornerstone of biological sciences, but anti-evolution teaching has become a global controversy since the introduction of evolutionary ideas into the United States high school science curricula in 1914. It is suggested that teachers' attitude toward and acceptance of the theory of evolution will influence their effect of teaching…

A sample of 661 churchgoers from a range of Christian denominations in the United Kingdom was asked about Darwinian evolution (defined as the common origin of all species, including humans). Respondents were categorised as those who accepted the idea, those who rejected it, and those who were unsure or neutral. People in each category were given a…

This study examined the development of children's reasoning about the afterlife and its relationship with parental afterlife beliefs and testimony. A total of 123 children aged 5, 7, and 10 years were read a story describing the events that led to a person's death. After hearing the story, children were asked questions about the dead agent's…

Defines Islamic creationism and anti-evolutionism in Turkey, provides information about political and cultural changes starting from the 1920s, and discusses Islamic movements at this time. Presents examples of politicians' approaches to this issue and points out the effects of Christian creationism and the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) on…

Compares "being Muslim" in Turkey with other Islamic countries and describes the regime changes of the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. Explains evolution in Islamic understanding and discusses creationism's effects and evolution's place in the high school biology curriculum. Defines the Science Research Foundation's (BAV) and…

Defines how political balances and changes in Turkey effect creation-evolution relation. Describes the influences of Bilim Arastirma Vakfi (BAV) on these changes, which are directly targeted to public education, and discusses the content of creationism. Questions why Islamic creationism is a copy of that of the Institute for Creation Research…