Our study is the first to report sustained large effect sizes for both knowledge of evolution, NOS, and acceptance change ~1.5 years after program completion.
b Integrated content understanding with segregated knowledge of evolution and no theoretical organizer.
Education is expected to increase knowledge of evolution, which in turn should lead to greater acceptance.
Research has shown a significant positive correlation between the acceptance of evolution and knowledge of evolution (Nadelson and Sinatra 2008).
Research from two Penn State professors reveals American students may be lagging behind in their knowledge of evolution because teachers are unprepared or unwilling to teach it.
In rating their knowledge of evolution, 68.6% (n = 24) contended their knowledge of evolution was either excellent or good whereas 31.4% (n = 11) maintained an average or fair knowledge of evolution.
Content knowledge of evolution must therefore remain an explicit goal for teacher preparation.
Instead, the effect of the knowledge of evolution is fully mediated by acceptance.
We found a positive relationship between knowledge of evolution and acceptance of evolution (see Table 3).
