Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that hit Asia forced a major reappraisal of the old system of government-business alliances and the management by the public of private risks. In Korea this meant a shift in the development paradigm.
In a controversial decision, the South Korean government has asked textbooks publishers to ignore calls for removing examples of evolution in high school science textbooks. This includes the evidence supporting the evolution of horses as well as the bird an ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A group of creationists in South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to omit evidence of evolution from science textbooks for high school students. The Society for Textbook Revise, an offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research that aims to cleanse biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the decision. The STR claims that this kind of materialistic thinking creates a negative picture for students and can lead to their eventual loss of faith.
When the STR's campaign made the news, scientists across the globe expressed concern. In a letter to the editor of Nature, evolutionary biologist Jae Choe of Ewha Womans University in Seoul complained that South Korea had given in to religious prejudice. His colleagues backed him from around the country who gathered into a group named Evolution Korea to organize an anti-textbook petition.
Some researchers are also concerned that the STR campaign will spread to other parts of the globe, where the prevalence of creationism is rising. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolution movement could push for textbook revisions in other countries, especially those with strong Christian and Muslim population.
South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the debate about evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans belong to of a religion, with the majority practicing Christianity or Buddhism. In addition, many Koreans adhere to Ch'ondogyo, a philosophy that is based on Confucian principles which emphasizes harmony in society and individual self-cultivation. Ch'ondogyo teaches the human being is one with Hanulnim, the God of Sun, and that divine blessings are possible by doing good deeds.
All of this has created a fertile ground. Several studies have shown that students with religion-based backgrounds are more hesitant when learning about evolution than those without religion. The causes behind this are not clear. Students with a religious background may not be as familiar with scientific theories, making them more vulnerable to creationists and their influence. Another reason could be that students who have a religious background may view evolution as a concept that is not a religion, which makes them feel uncomfortable.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent years, anti-evolution campaigns in schools have raised concern within the scientific community. A 2009 survey revealed that nearly 40 percent of Americans believe that biological evolution is a lie and that believing in it would be contrary to their religious beliefs. Many scientists believe that, despite the success of creationism the best way to combat this movement is to educate the public on the evidence for evolution.
Scientists have a duty to educate their students about science including the theory of evolution. They should also inform the public about the scientific process and how knowledge from science is gathered and validated. They should explain how scientific theories are frequently challenged and revised. However, misconceptions about the nature of research conducted by scientists often fuel anti-evolution beliefs.
Some people interpret the term "theory" as a hunch or a guess. However, in science, a theory is rigorously tested and verified with evidence. A theory that survives repeated testing and observation is an established scientific principle.
The debate about evolutionary theory is a good occasion to discuss the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is important to realize that science cannot answer questions about the purpose or meaning of life but it is merely a means by which living things can develop and adapt.
A comprehensive education should include exposure to all major fields of science including evolutionary biology. This is essential because a variety of jobs and decisions require that people understand how science works.
The vast majority scientists in the world agree that humans have changed over time. In a study that predicted adults' views of the consensus on this subject, those with higher levels education and science knowledge were found to be more likely believe there is a wide consensus among scientists on human evolution. The people with more religious faith and less knowledge of science are more likely to disagree. It is essential that teachers emphasize the importance of gaining an understanding of this consensus so that people can make informed decisions regarding health care, energy usage, and other policy matters.
3. Evolution and Culture
Cultural evolution is a close cousin of the mainstream evolutionary theory. It explores how humans and other organisms learn from one another. Researchers in this field employ explanatory models and investigative tools that are adapted from those employed by evolutionary theorists, and they reach back into human prehistory to find out the origins of our capacity for cultural understanding.
This method also acknowledges the distinction between biological and cultural traits. Cultural traits are acquired slowly while biological traits are typically acquired at the same time (in sexual species at fertilization). The acquisition of one characteristic may affect the growth and development of a different.
In Korea for instance the introduction of Western fashion elements in the late 19th century and early 20th century was a result of a complicated sequence of events. One of the most important was the appearance in Korea of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western hairstyles and clothes.
When Japan left Korea in the 1930s some of these trends began to change. At the close of World War II, Korea was once again united but this time under the Choson dynasty rule.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the current global financial crisis, the country's economy has grown steadily in the last decade and is expected to maintain its steady growth in the near future.
However, the current government faces numerous challenges. One of the biggest is the inability to come up with a consistent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed the shortcomings of the country's economic policies, particularly its dependence on exports and foreign investment which might not be sustainable in the long run.
The crisis has shaken the confidence of investors, the government must rethink its economic strategy and come up with alternatives to increase domestic demand. It will also have to overhaul the incentive, monitoring, and disciplining systems currently in place to create the stability of the financial system. This chapter offers a variety of scenarios on how the Korean economy could develop post-crisis.
4. Evolution and Education
The biggest challenge for evolution educators is how to teach evolutionary concepts in a way that is suitable for students of different levels of development and ages. Teachers, for instance, must be sensitive to the religious diversity in their classrooms and create a space where students with both religious and secular views are comfortable with learning about evolution. Moreover, teachers need to understand common misconceptions about evolution, and how to confront them in their classrooms. Teachers must also have access to a range of resources for teaching evolution and be able to find them quickly.
In 무료에볼루션 , the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played an important role in bringing evolutionary researchers and educators from different sectors to discuss the best methods for teaching Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies, educational research, officials of government funding agencies as well as curriculum developers. The convergence of different participants helped to identify the common recommendations that will serve as the foundation for future actions.
It is crucial to include evolution in all science curricula, at every level. National Science Education Standards (NRC), which call for the integration of evolution across all life sciences with the developmentally appropriate, are a method to achieve this goal. Furthermore, a new publication from the NRC offers guidance for schools on how to integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that a more complete presentation of evolution leads to a greater understanding of students and belief in evolution. However, estimating the causal impact of teaching in the classroom is challenging due to the fact that school curriculums are not assigned randomly and evolve over time because of the predetermined timing of gubernatorial elections and state board of education appointments. To overcome this limitation, I use a longitudinal data set that allows me to control for year and state fixed effects as well as individual-level variations in teacher beliefs regarding the evolution of their curriculum.
Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution have fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the hypothesis that faculty who are more confident are less likely to be hesitant about questions about evolution in the classroom. They may also be more inclined to employ strategies like a reconciliatory method which is used to increase the students' understanding of evolution.