Middle School Science Education: A Survey on the Teaching of Biological Evolution

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Biological Evolution, Education, Literacy

Ed Hessler

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) reports on a new study by NCSE and the Pennsylvania  State University on the state of "middle school evolution education through a representative survey of science teachers."

The release from NCSE notes that "middle school science teachers who teach evolution reported devoting a substantial amount of classroom time to the topic: 14.6 class hours, or about three weeks of classes, on average. In comparison, high school biology teachers who teach evolution reported devoting 18.6 hours, or about four weeks of classes, to the topic on average.

"The survey also found that a solid majority of middle school science teachers who teach evolution agreed that they emphasize the scientific consensus on evolution: 81.8 percent. In comparison, 85.8 percent of high school biology teachers who teach evolution agreed that they emphasized the scientific consensus on evolution, although they were more likely to strongly agree that they did so."

The graphic at the top of the brief suimmarizes differences between middle school science teachers and high school science teachers on creationism, avoidance, mixed messages and evolution as settled science.

A link to the results from the survey, published in the open-access, peer reviewed journal Evolution: Education and Outreach is included. 

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