The Worst Advice We've Been Given About Evolution Korea
Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that swept Asia required a major review of the old model of government-business alliances and the public management of private risks. In Korea, that meant an evolution of the development paradigm.
In a controversial move, the South Korean government has requested textbook publishers to ignore requests to remove examples of evolution from science texts for high school students. This includes evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the avian ancestral Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A creationist group in South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution in high school science textbooks. The Society for Textbook Revise, an independent branch of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to rid biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the move. The STR claims that such materialism creates negative images to students, making them abandon their faith.
Scientists across the globe expressed concern when the STR campaign gained attention. 에볼루션 게이밍 , evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul wrote in an open letter to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was backed up by colleagues across the country, who set up a group called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the textbook changes.
Researchers are concerned about the possibility that the STR campaign will be spread to other parts of the world where the belief in the prevalence of creationism is rising. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolutionist movement will increase pressure for textbook revisions in other countries, particularly those with large Christian and Muslim populations.
South Korea has a particularly significant cultural context for the debate on evolution. 26 percent of the country's residents belong to one of the religious groups and the majority adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. Additionally, a large portion of Koreans adhere to Ch'ondogyo, a philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes harmony among people and individual self-cultivation. Ch'ondogyo teaches the human being is one with Hanulnim the God of Sun and that the heavenly blessings can be achieved through good works.
All of this has created an ideal environment for the spread of creationism. A number of studies have demonstrated that students with religion-based backgrounds tend to be more uncomfortable when learning about evolution than those without religion. However, the root causes of this phenomenon remain not known. One possible explanation is that students with religious beliefs tend to be as knowledgeable about scientific concepts and theories and are therefore more vulnerable to the influence of creationists. Another possible factor is that students who have religious beliefs are more likely to see evolution as an atheistic concept, which may make them less comfortable with it.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent years scientists have been concerned about anti-evolution initiatives in schools. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that nearly 40% of Americans believe that biological evolution is a lie and that believing in it would conflict with their convictions about religion. Many scientists believe that, despite the popularity of creationism the best method to combat this movement is to educate the public about the evidence that supports evolution.
Scientists are required to instruct their students in science and the theory of evolution. They must also educate the public on the research process and the way in which knowledge is confirmed. They should explain how theories of science are frequently challenged and modified. However, misunderstandings regarding the nature of scientific research often fuel anti-evolution beliefs.
Many people mistake the term "theory" as a hunch, or a guess. In science, however theories are rigorously tested and verified with empirical data. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed becomes a scientific principal.
The debate over evolutionary theory is a good opportunity to discuss the significance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is important for people to understand that science is not able to answer questions about the meaning or meaning of life, but it is merely a means by which living things can develop and adapt.
Furthermore, a comprehensive education should cover the vast majority of scientific fields, including evolutionary biology. This is particularly important because the jobs that people hold and the decisions they make require understanding of how science functions.
The vast majority of scientists around the world believe that humans have evolved through time. A recent study predicting adults' views of the consensus on this issue found that those with higher levels of education and knowledge of science were more likely to believe there is a general consensus among scientists on the subject of human evolution. The people who have more religious beliefs but less science knowledge tend to be more divided. It is crucial that educators stress the importance of gaining an understanding of this consensus, so that people can make informed decisions about energy use, health care and other issues of policy.
3. Evolution and Culture
A close cousin to the popular evolutionary theory, cultural evolution studies the numerous ways that humans and other species learn from and with one another. Researchers in this field use explanatory tools and investigative models adapted from evolutionary theorists and reach back to the prehistoric human to determine the earliest sources of culture.
This method also acknowledges that there are differences between the characteristics of culture and biological. Cultural traits can be acquired slowly while biological traits are typically acquired at the same time (in sexual species at fertilization). The acquisition of one characteristic can affect the growth and development of a different.
In Korea, the adoption of Western styles in the late nineteenth and early 20th century was the result of an elaborate sequence of events. One of the most important was the appearance in Korea of Japanese occupation forces that introduced Western hairstyles and clothing.
When Japan quit Korea in the 1930s some of these trends began to change. At the close of World War II, Korea was once more united but this time under Choson dynasty rule.
Today, Korea is a vibrant political and economic power. Despite the financial crisis of recent the economy of Korea has been growing steadily over the past decade. It is expected to keep this trend going in the coming years.
However, the current administration faces numerous challenges. The inability of the government to come up with a coherent strategy to deal with the current economic crisis is one of the biggest obstacles. The crisis has exposed weaknesses of the country's economy policies, mainly its overreliance on foreign investment and exports, which may not be sustainable over the long term.
The crisis has shaken confidence of investors. As a result, the government needs to reconsider its approach and find other ways to increase domestic demand. To ensure a stable financial climate, the government will have reform its incentive and monitoring systems, as well as discipline and monitoring. This chapter presents several scenarios on how the Korean economy could develop post-crisis.
4. Evolution and Education
A fundamental challenge for educators of evolution is how to present evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students of various ages and developmental stages. For example, teachers must be aware of the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create an environment where students with secular and religious views feel comfortable in learning about evolution. Teachers must be able to recognize common misconceptions regarding evolution and be able to correct them in the classroom. Additionally, teachers should have access to a variety of resources that are available for teaching evolution and be able locate them quickly.
In this context, Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played an important role in bringing together evolutionary researchers and educators from various sectors to discuss best methods of teaching about Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies, educational research, officials of government funding agencies as well as curriculum developers. The convergence of various stakeholders led to the development of the common recommendations that will form the basis for any future actions.
It is essential to incorporate evolution in all science curricula, at every level. To achieve this goal, the National Science Education Standards (NRC) call for evolution to be taught in a seamless manner across all sciences using a sequence of concepts that are developmental appropriate. A new publication from NRC offers guidance to schools about how to integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.
A number of studies have demonstrated that a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of evolution is associated with higher levels of student understanding and belief in the existence of evolution. However it is difficult to determine the causal effect of evolution in the classroom is difficult given that school curricula are not randomly assigned and evolve over time as a result of the predetermined timing of gubernatorial elections and state board of education appointments. To overcome this issue I use an ongoing dataset that gives me to control state and years fixed effects as well as individual-level differences in the beliefs of teachers about evolutionary theory.
Another important result is that teachers who are more comfortable with teaching about evolution report having fewer personal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the idea that a faculty with more confidence is less likely to avoid evolution topics in the classroom. Additionally, they might be more likely employ strategies like an approach to reconciliation that is known to increase undergraduate student acceptance of evolution (Harms and Reiss 2019; Tolman et al., 2020).