Evolution as the cornerstone of biology: a course for undergraduates and postgraduates in biological sciences

Araújo, Leonardo Augusto Luvison

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Brasil

Ciência & Educação (Bauru)

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ARTIGO ORIGINAL • Ciênc. educ. (Bauru) 28 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-731320220010 copy

Evolution as the cornerstone of biology: a course for undergraduates and postgraduates in biological sciences

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Although many authors share the view of evolution as the cornerstone of biological sciences, not many courses are effectively based off it. In this study, we have designed a course with this in mind, aimed at undergraduates and postgraduates in biological sciences. We intend to evaluate and compare the responses of both types of students using a survey questionnaire. Participants are undergraduate and graduate biology students from public and private universities in southern Brazil. We obtained 122 precourse and 95 post-course survey responses. Results suggest that students from all levels of biology training benefit from a teaching approach that takes evolutionary theory across biological disciplines. Pre- and post-course comparisons show that more training in biology does not equal more evolutionary knowledge. This may be one of the main advantages of a multidisciplinary approach to teaching evolution.

Keywords:
Biology teaching; Evolution; Teacher training; Multidisciplinarity; Higher education

Field of knowledge	Evolution content
Botany	Phylogeography; Diversification and plant species diversity; Examples of evolution from subtropical grasslands in the southern highlands of Brazil.
Ecology	Niche construction; Organism-environment interactions; Morphological evolution and biogeography; Examples of evolution in neotropical rodents.
Evolution education	Misconceptions about phylogenetics; A critical analysis of biology textbooks; Report of teaching experiences and teaching-learning challenges in evolution.
Evolutionary developmental biology	Epigenetics; Hox genes; Gene expression and evolution; Phenotypic plasticity; Developmental drive and constraint.
Genetics	Molecular evolution; Horizontal gene transfer; Examples of evolution in neotropical Drosophila species.
History and Philosophy of Science	Genecentrism and adaptationism: Evolutionary Biology in Brazil: Fritz Müller, voyages of Alfred R. Wallace, Charles Darwin and Theodosius Dobzhansky.
Microbiology	Symbiosis and evolution; Endosymbiont theory; Wolbachia interactions and evolution; Origin and evolution of HIV.
Paleobiology	Macroevolutionary processes and patterns; Punctuated equilibrium theory; Vertebrate evolution from the Late-Triassic Santa Maria Formation, in southern Brazil.
Socio-scientific issues	Gender and race issues in evolutionary biology; Biological evolution and post-truth; Creationism and intelligent design.
Zoology	Examples of morphological evolution from Brazilian zoological research. Cultural and behavioral evolution.

		Pre-course (n = 122)	Post-course (n = 95)
Gender	Female	86 (70.5%)	72 (75.8%)
	Male	36 (29.5%)	23 (24.2%)

Religion	None	99 (81%)	79 (83.2%)
	Catholic	10 (8.2%)	7 (7.4%)
	Spiritualist	5 (4.1%)	4 (4.2%)
	Evangelical	5 (4.1%)	3 (3.2%)
	Others	3 (2.5%)	2 (2%)

Level of biology training	Biological Novices	46 (37.7%)	34 (35.8%)
	Biological Advanced	42 (34.4%)	33 (34.7%)
	Biological Graduate	34 (27.9%)	28 (29.5%)

Items	Answer	Pre-course (%)	Post-course (%)	Change (%)	Gain class (g)
A. Natural selection produces organisms perfectly suited for their environment	Disagree	54.1	71.5	17.4	0.38 (medium)
B. Natural selection acts on individual organisms, adapting them to the enviroment	Disagree	55.0	63.2	8.2	0.18 (low)
C. Cheeta's ability to run quickly has evolved because the species needed to be able to capture prey.	Disagree	38.5	52.6	14.1	0.23 (low)
D. Population changes over generations are always adaptive.	Disagree	62.3	80.0	17.7	0.47 (medium)
E. Genetic drift is an evolutionary mechanism that occurs when a population is not under natural selection.	Disagree	59.9	65.3	5.4	0.73 (low)
F. Current species evolved over a long period of time and, therefore, they have more anatomical, biochemical and physiological characteristics than their ancestors.	Disagree	69.7	83.2	13.5	0.44 (medium)
G. The raised guarding behavior in meerkats evolved through natural selection for the survival of the species.	Disagree	14.8	28.4	13.6	0.16 (low)
H. Scientific hypotheses become theories and, finally, with more evidence, they become well-established facts.	Disagree	41.0	57.9	16.9	0.28 (medium)
I. The lack of fossil records for intermediate forms, as found among Homo sapiens and species of hominins, may refute the evolutionary theory.	Disagree	90.2	93.3	3.1	0.31 (medium)
J. Evolutionary theory reached its maturity with the unification of Darwinism and genetics, and has not changed since then.	Disagree	78.7	93.6	14.9	0.69 (medium)
K. Morphological evolution is limited by developmental and historical constraints.	Agree	65.5	71.6	6.1	0.17 (low)
L. New genes are not required for phenotypic evolution.	Agree	55.7	88.4	32.7	0.74 (high)
M. The lineages of organisms have evolved at a constant rate.	Disagree	72.2	82.1	9.9	0.35 (medium)
N. Evolutionary radiations and extinctions are important evolutionary processes.	Agree	91.8	97.9	6.1	0.74 (high)
O. There is a lot of evidence that supports the hypothesis of common ancestry between eukaryotes and prokaryotes.	Agree	90.0	97.9	7.9	0.79 (high)
P. Macroevolutionary events (on a scale above the level of populations) result from the sum of microevolutionary events (population-level phenomena).	Disagree	8.2	19.0	10.8	0.12 (low)
Q. According to the phylogeny, fishes are as related to lizards as they are to mammals.	Agree	46.7	83.0	36.3	0.68 (medium)
R. According to the phylogeny, contemporary fishes gave rise to amphibians, which, in turn, gave rise to lizards.	Disagree	75.4	92.6	17.2	0.7 (high)
S. We can infer from the phylogeny that fishes have changed little since the divergence from the common ancestor of all vertebrates.	Disagree	63.1	75.8	12.7	0.34 (medium)
T. According to the phylogeny, amphibians are more closely related to lizards than they are to birds	Disagree	38.5	69.5	31.0	0.5 (medium)
U. We can infer from the phylogeny that amphibians are less evolved than birds and mammals.	Disagree	86.1	94.8	8.7	0.62 (medium)

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação para a Ciência, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências, campus de Bauru. Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube, 14-01, Campus Universitário - Vargem Limpa CEP 17033-360 Bauru - SP/ Brasil , Tel./Fax: (55 14) 3103 6177 - Bauru - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista@fc.unesp.br

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[1] Contato: leonardo_luvison@hotmail.com