MTSU
READING

MTSU biology researcher co-authors published study...

MTSU biology researcher co-authors published study on reducing evolution education conflicts

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Following two major professional awards, Middle Tennessee State University biology researcher M. Elizabeth Barnes has collaborated on another recently published project on teaching evolution in the classroom.

The research of students in biology classes involved conflict-reducing practices in evolution education that are associated with increases in evolution acceptance in a large naturalistic study. It appeared in December in the San Francisco, California-based Public Library of Science, or PLOS, peer-reviewed, open-access journal PLOS One, highlighting the research led by MTSU doctoral student Rahmi Aini of Nashville, Barnes and colleagues.

Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the Earth.

Middle Tennessee State University graduate student Alexa Summersill, left, researcher and biology assistant professor M. Elizabeth Barnes and doctoral student Rahmi Aini discuss the collection of data from thousands of biology students nationwide near the Social Perceptions of Science Lab in the Science Building on the MTSU campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The National Science Foundation-funded research involved conflict reducing practices in evolution education associated with increases in evolution acceptance. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)
Middle Tennessee State University graduate student Alexa Summersill, left, researcher and biology assistant professor M. Elizabeth Barnes and doctoral student Rahmi Aini discuss the collection of data from thousands of biology students nationwide near the Social Perceptions of Science Lab in the Science Building on the MTSU campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The National Science Foundation-funded research involved conflict reducing practices in evolution education associated with increases in evolution acceptance. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

Many students have a misconception that ideas of evolution replace or compete with religious explanations for the development of life. Barnes’ conflict-reducing practices include showing students areas of compatibility between evolution and religion so that students do not feel like someone has to abandon their religious faith to accept evolution. 

“We show that by having cultural competence with students from a variety of religious backgrounds, by not forcing our views on students, and by showing compatibility between religion and science we can actually increase students’ openness to evolution,” Barnes said. “We think this is encouraging in these times of conflict.”

Barnes was previously awarded a five-year, $1 million National Science Foundation early CAREER grant and most recently received the Outstanding Teaching in General Education Award during the university’s annual fall faculty meeting to kick off the fall semester. 

‘Unnecessary’ evolution, religion conflict

The evolution education study, funded by the NSF, indicates evolution is foundational to biology, but currently around half of the U.S. population rejects the idea of human evolution. One of the most important factors in the acceptance of evolution is perceived conflict between evolution and a student’s religious beliefs.

Eight years in the making — the nationwide survey began at Arizona State University when Barnes was a graduate student there and continued into 2024 and beyond — the authors have so far surveyed 6,719 college biology students in 55 courses and 14 states.

In the Middle Tennessee State University Science Building on campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn., award-winning researcher and biology assistant professor M. Elizabeth Barnes, left, graduate student Alexa Summersill and doctoral student Rahmi Aini had their findings from a nationwide survey of college biology students regarding conflict-reducing practices in evolution education published by peer-reviewed PLOS One, a science journal from the San Francisco, Calif.-based Public Library of Science, or PLOS. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)
In the Middle Tennessee State University Science Building on campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn., award-winning researcher and biology assistant professor M. Elizabeth Barnes, left, graduate student Alexa Summersill and doctoral student Rahmi Aini had their findings from a nationwide survey of college biology students regarding conflict-reducing practices in evolution education published by peer-reviewed PLOS One, a science journal from the San Francisco, Calif.-based Public Library of Science, or PLOS. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

Partnerships, Research, Faculty and Staff News, Student News, Science, PLOS, PLOS One, Public Library of Science, M. Elizabeth Barnes, Rahmi Aini, Alexa Summersill, Science Building, Social Perceptions of Science Lab, Clinical Psychology, Psychology, Awards, NSF, National Science Foundation, Evolution, Outstanding Teaching in General Education Award, Distinguished Early Career Research Award, MTSU, Middle Tennessee State University

Much of the research by Barnes, Aini and Alexa Summersill of Smyrna, a graduate student in the clinical psychology program who helped with data collection and analyses, came in Barnes’ Social Perceptions of Science Lab in the MTSU Science Building.

In addition to assessing religiosity, they asked the students for their experiences of an instructor teaching evolution with conflict-reducing practices. 

Highly religious Christian students were more likely to accept evolution when instructors emphasized the compatibility of evolution and religion, the study revealed. However, all students, regardless of whether they were religious or not, were more likely to accept human evolution when instructors emphasized that it was their choice to do so.

Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Barnes, Biology Education
Dr. Elizabeth Barnes

“This study reinforces a growing number of research studies showing that conflict between religion and evolution is often unnecessary,” Barnes said. “College instructors can play an important role in bridging the divide. By adopting practices that reduce perceived conflict, our findings suggest that more students and the broader public can come to embrace evolution, the cornerstone of the biological sciences.”

The study included 10 researchers and more than 75 biology instructors “willing to let us study their courses to accomplish our goal,” added Barnes.

For more information, email Barnes at Liz.Barnes@mtsu.edu.

Grad students’ perspectives

Rahmi Aini

Aini, 29, born and raised in Indonesia, said her participation has been rewarding “because I have a number of similar interests with Dr. Barnes in what I want to pursue in my career. I want to teach biology at the university level and conduct research in biology education. Coming from a different and unique cultural background, this research in the U.S. has been  particularly fascinating, and I have learned so much. It has helped me to better understand how to teach evolution using an evidence-based approach.”

As part of the project, she played a key role in leading complex data analyses to address research questions.

Alexa Summersill

Involved with the study for three years, Summersill, 22, a Smyrna resident, said her first dive into research “prepared me for graduate school. This was a big project. I found that this work was interesting, and I wanted to get into the lab.” Her takeaways: The study “was inclusive, it did not force a viewpoint and more students were willing to accept evolution.”

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)


COMMENTS ARE OFF THIS POST