The 9 Things Your Parents Teach You About Evolution Korea
Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that hit Asia forced a major reappraisal of the old system of business-government alliances and the public management of private risks. In Korea this meant a change in the model of development.
In a controversial decision, the South Korean government has requested textbooks publishers to ignore calls for removing examples of evolution from high school science texts. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the avian ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A South Korean creationist group has pushed textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution from high-school science texts. 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 a negative image for students, leading them to be skeptical.
When the STR's ad campaign made the news, scientists around the world reacted with alarm. Jae Choe, an evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul and wrote a letter to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was supported by colleagues from across the country, who set up a group called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the textbook changes.
Some scientists are worried that the STR will be spread to other regions of the world, where the belief in creationism has been increasing. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolution movement putting more pressure on textbook revisions, especially in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations.
South Korea has a particularly significant cultural context for the debate about evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans are part of a religion with the majority of them practicing Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also adhere to Ch'ondogyo - the philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes social harmony, individual self-cultivation and self-respect. Ch'ondogyo is a way of teaching that the human being is one with Hanulnim, the God of Sun and that heavenly blessings can be achieved through good works.
All of this has made creationism a fertile field. Numerous studies have revealed that students with religious backgrounds to be more reluctant to learn about evolution than those who do not. However, the root reasons for this phenomenon are not clear. Students who have a religious background might be less familiar with scientific theories, making them more vulnerable to creationists' influence. Another factor could be that students who have a religious background may view evolution as an idea that is not a religion, which makes them feel uncomfortable.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent years, the scientific community has been concerned about the anti-evolution agenda in schools. A 2009 survey revealed nearly 40 percent of Americans believed that biological evolution was not true and that it could conflict with their religious beliefs. Many scientists believe that, despite the popularity of creationism, the best way to counter this belief is to educate the public about the evidence supporting evolution.
Scientists have a duty to educate their students about science, including the theory of evolution. They must also inform the general public about the science process and how knowledge from science is gathered and verified. They should also clarify that scientific theories are often challenged and revised. However, misinformation about the nature and purpose of scientific research can fuel anti-evolution views.
For example, some people may confuse the word "theory" with the normal meaning of the word - a guess or a guess. In the realm of science, a theory is thoroughly tested and verified using evidence. A theory that is able to withstand repeated testing and observation becomes a scientific principle.
The debate over the evolutionary theory provides a great opportunity to discuss the significance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is important to understand that science cannot answer questions about life's purpose or meaning, but instead allows living things to evolve and change.
A well-rounded education should also include exposure to the major fields of science including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because a lot of jobs and choices require people understand how science operates.
The majority of scientists around world accept that humans have changed over time. In a recent study, which predicted adults' views of the consensus on this topic people with higher levels of education and science knowledge were found to be more likely believe that there is wide agreement among scientists regarding human evolution. The people who have more religious beliefs but less knowledge of science tend to be more divided. It is important that educators emphasize the importance of understanding this consensus so that people can make informed decisions about energy use, health care, and other policy matters.
3. Evolution and Culture
Cultural evolution is a close relative of the mainstream evolutionary theory. It examines the ways that humans and other species learn from one another. Researchers in this field use explanation tools and models that are adapted from evolutionary theorists. They also go back to prehistoric times to discover the earliest sources of culture.
This method also acknowledges the distinction between biological and cultural traits. While biological traits are largely acquired in one go (in sexual species, at fertilization) but cultural traits can be acquired over a lengthy period of time. In the end, the emergence of one cultural trait may affect the development of another.
In Korea, the adoption of Western styles in the late nineteenth and early 20th century was the result of a complex 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 left Korea in the 1930s, some of these trends began to reverse. At the end of World War II, Korea was once more united, this time under the Choson dynasty rule.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the recent global financial crisis, the economy of Korea has grown consistently over the past decade and is set to maintain its steady growth in the coming years.
However, the current government has many challenges to face. One of the biggest is the inability to come up with a consistent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has revealed weaknesses of the country's policies particularly its dependence on foreign investment and exports, which may not last.
Since the financial crisis has destroyed the confidence of investors, the government needs to review its economic strategy and find alternatives to increase domestic demand. It also needs to overhaul the incentive, monitoring, and disciplining systems that are currently in place to ensure the stability of the financial system. This chapter outlines several scenarios of how the Korean economy might develop in the post-crisis period.
4. Evolution and Education
A fundamental challenge for evolution educators is how to present evolutionary concepts in a way that is suitable for students at various levels of development and ages. For example, teachers must be aware of the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create a space where students with secular and religious views are comfortable with learning about evolution. Teachers should be able to recognize common misconceptions about evolution and be able to address them in the classroom. Finally, teachers must be able to access a range of resources for teaching evolution and be able locate them quickly.
In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was a crucial step in bringing together evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of disciplines to discuss most effective methods of teaching about evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, officials from government funding agencies and curriculum developers. The convergence of different stakeholders led to the development of some common guidelines that will serve as the foundation for future actions.
One of the most important recommendations is that the subject of evolution should be incorporated in every science curriculum at every level. To achieve this goal it is recommended that the National Science Education Standards (NRC) call for evolution to be taught in a unified way across the life sciences with a progression of concepts that are developmental appropriate. Furthermore, a new publication from the NRC offers guidelines to schools on how they can integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.
Multiple studies have proven that a more complete presentation of evolution leads to better understanding by students and belief in the existence of evolution. It is difficult to quantify causal effects in the classroom since school curricula do not change in a random manner and are dependent on the timing of state boards of education and gubernatorial election. To overcome this issue, i use a longitudinal data set that gives me control for state and years fixed effects as well as individual-level variations in teacher beliefs about evolutionary theory.
Another important result is that teachers who are more comfortable teaching about evolution report having fewer intrapersonal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the notion that more confident faculty are less likely to be hesitant about questions about evolution in the classroom, and could be more inclined to use strategies such as the reconciliatory method which is used to increase undergraduate students' acceptance of evolution.