Where Will Evolution Korea Be One Year From What Is Happening Now?
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Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that swept across Asia led to a major rethinking of the old system of government and business alliances, as well the public management of risks. In Korea this meant a shift in the development paradigm.
In a controversial move, the South Korean government has asked textbook publishers to ignore requests for the removal of examples of evolution in science texts for high school students. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the bird an ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A creationist group from South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to omit evidence of evolution from science textbooks for high school students. This was the result of a campaign led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR) an independent branch of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to get rid of textbooks on biology of "atheist materialism." The STR claims that this kind of materialistic views create a negative image for students and leads to their eventual loss of faith.
Scientists from all over the world expressed concerns when the STR campaign gained attention. In a letter to the editor of Nature, evolutionary biologist Jae Choe of Ewha Womans University in Seoul complained that South Korea had given in 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 changes to the textbooks.
Researchers are also concerned that the STR campaign could spread to other regions of the world where creationism is on the rise. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolutionist campaign putting pressure on textbook revisions, specifically in countries with large Christian and Muslim population.
South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the debate on evolution. 26 percent of the nation's residents belong to a religious denomination and the majority of them adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also adhere to Ch'ondogyo - the philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes harmony in the social, personal 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 divine blessings are possible by doing good deeds.
All of this has created an ideal environment for the spread of creationism. Numerous studies have revealed that students with religious backgrounds to be more hesitant to learn about evolution than those who do not. However, the root reasons for this phenomenon are not known. Students who have a religious background might be less experienced with scientific theories, making them more susceptible to creationists and their influence. Another possible factor is that students who have religious beliefs are more likely to see evolution as an atheistic concept which could make them less at ease with it.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent years, anti-evolution programs in schools have raised concern within the scientific community. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that nearly 40 percent of Americans believed that biological evolution was wrong and that it would conflict their religious beliefs. Many scientists believe that despite the success of creationism the best way to stop this movement is to educate the public about the evidence for evolution.
Scientists are responsible to instruct their students in science that includes the theory of evolution. They also need to inform the public about the research process and how knowledge is verified. They must also clarify that scientific theories are frequently challenged and revised. However, misunderstandings regarding the nature of research conducted by scientists often fuel anti-evolution beliefs.
For example, some people confuse the term "theory" with the normal meaning of the word - a hunch or guess. In the field of science, however, an hypothesis is rigorously tested and empirical data is used to confirm it. A theory that is tested and observed repeatedly becomes a scientific principle.
The debate about the evolutionary theory provides a great opportunity to discuss the significance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential to understand that science is not able to provide answers to questions about life's purpose or meaning, but rather allows living things to evolve and change.
A well-rounded education should also include exposure to all major scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is especially important since the jobs that people hold and the decisions they make require understanding of how science works.
The vast majority of scientists around the world agree that humans have changed through time. In a recent study, which predicted the views of adults on the consensus around this issue, those with higher levels education and science knowledge were found to be more likely believe there is a wide agreement among scientists regarding human evolution. People with a higher level of religious belief but less science knowledge tend to disagree more. It is crucial that educators insist on the importance of gaining an understanding of this consensus, so that people can make informed decisions regarding energy use, health care, check here and other policy matters.
3. Evolution and Culture
Cultural evolution is a cousin of the mainstream evolutionary theory. It explores how organisms like humans learn from one another. Researchers in this field use explanation models and tools that are adapted from the ones used by evolutionary theorists, and they go back to human prehistory to find out the origins of our capacity to learn about culture.
This method also acknowledges the differences between biological and cultural characteristics. While biological traits are typically inherited all at once (in sexual species, during fertilization) but cultural traits can be acquired over a long period of time. In the end, the acquisition of one trait may affect the development of another.
In Korea the emergence of Western styles in the latter part of the nineteenth and early 20th century was the result of an elaborate sequence of events. One of the most significant was the arrival in Korea of Japanese occupation forces that introduced Western hairstyles and clothing.
When Japan quit Korea in the 1930s, some of these changes began to reverse. By the end of World War II, Korea had once again unified but this time under the rule of the Choson dynasty.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the recent financial crisis Korea's economy has been growing at a steady pace over the past decade. It is anticipated to continue to grow in the near future.
The current government is confronted with many challenges. One of the most significant is the inability to come up with a coherent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed the weaknesses of the country's economic policies, mainly its overreliance on exports and foreign investment which might not be sustainable in the long run.
As the crisis has shattered the confidence of investors, the government needs to review its economic strategy and come up with alternative ways to boost domestic demand. To ensure a stable and stable financial environment, the government will have to reform its incentive system, monitoring and discipline. This chapter offers a number of scenarios of how the Korean economy could grow in the post-crisis period.
4. Evolution and Education
One of the biggest challenges for educators of evolution is how to present evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students at various ages and developmental stages. Teachers must, for example be aware of the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create a learning environment where students with both religious and secular perspectives are at ease. Teachers should also be able recognize common misconceptions about evolution and know how to correct them in the classroom. Teachers must also be able to access a range of resources for teaching evolution and be able locate them quickly.
In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played an important role in bringing evolutionary researchers and educators from a variety of sectors to discuss the best methods for teaching about Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, government funding agency officials and curriculum designers. The convergence of these diverse groups led to the identification of a common set of recommendations that will serve as the foundation for future actions.
One of the most important recommendations is that the teaching of evolution should be included in all science curricula at any level. National Science Education Standards (NRC) which require the integration of evolution across all life sciences, with a progression that is developmentally appropriate, are a good method to achieve this goal. Additionally, a new publication from the NRC offers guidance to schools on how they can integrate evolution into their life science curriculum.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that a more comprehensive presentation of evolution leads to better understanding by students and belief in the existence of evolution. It is difficult to estimate causal effects in the classroom, since the curriculum for schools do not change in a random manner and are dependent on the timing of the state board of education and gubernatorial election. To overcome this limitation I employ a longitudinal data set which allows me to control for fixed state and year effects as well as individual-level variations in teacher beliefs about changes in the curriculum.
Teachers who are more comfortable in teaching evolution have fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the hypothesis that faculty who are more confident are less likely to be hesitant about teaching about evolution in the classroom, and could be more likely to employ strategies like a reconciliatory method which is used to increase undergraduate students' acceptance of evolution.