Evidence-Based Learning: What is the Role of "Need for Cognition" in Introductory Biology Students' Acceptance of Anthropogenic Climate Change and Evolution?

2013-04-20

View/Download File

Kudrna.pdf (807.04 KB)

Persistent link to this item

https://hdl.handle.net/11299/151230

Statistics

View Statistics

Title

Evidence-Based Learning: What is the Role of "Need for Cognition" in Introductory Biology Students' Acceptance of Anthropogenic Climate Change and Evolution?

Authors

Published Date

2013-04-20

Type

Presentation

Abstract

This study serves to help educators identify and better understand the undergraduate student population who do not accept some issues of scientific consensus that spark public controversy, namely anthropogenic climate change (ACC) and Evolution. This investigation aims to explore if a students’ “Need for Cognition” (NfC) – a characteristic often used to predict academic success – is related to student perception of these issues. Our goals were threefold: first, to develop and validate a tool by which educators could evaluate students’ NfC, acceptance of ACC, and acceptance of evolution; second, to use this survey tool to better characterize the students who struggle with evolution and ACC; lastly, to derive suggestions for strategies to better address the needs of the students who do not accept ACC and/or Evolution. While these data only indicate a correlation between NfC and acceptance of controversial topics without evidence of causality, we suggest that it is worth studying whether the improvement of NfC might improve students’ acceptance of these types of controversial topics.

Collections

UMTC Undergraduate Research Presentations and Papers (UROP)

Funding information

This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

Suggested citation

Kudrna, Jeremy. (2013). Evidence-Based Learning: What is the Role of "Need for Cognition" in Introductory Biology Students' Acceptance of Anthropogenic Climate Change and Evolution?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/151230.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.