Biography:

Professor Jason R. Wiles grew up in Arkansas, a southern state in the heart of the American Bible Belt with a storied history of controversy around the teaching of evolution in public schools. Dr. Wiles was raised in a very conservative Christian family and earned his first degree in biology at a private religious university where evolution was largely absent from the curriculum. He went on to earn masters degrees in both biology and geosciences, both heavy on evolutionary evidence and theory. After having taught biology and other sciences at a number of colleges, universities, and institutions of secondary education for several years, he recognized that a great many students had similar misconceptions and related difficulties in learning about biology that were rooted in a misunderstanding of evolution, whether or not these barriers were based on religious beliefs.

Given his own personal experience, and given the centrality of evolution to a deep understanding of the life and Earth sciences, Wiles was motivated to learn more about the teaching and learning of evolution. He eventually earned a Ph.D. at McGill University focusing on evolution education, and for the past four years has served as Research Manager and now as Associate Director of the Evolution Education Research Centre. He joined the faculty in the Biology Department at Syracuse University in 2007 and enjoys a secondary appointment in the SU Department of Science Teaching.

Abstract:

Teaching and Learning about Evolution in the Muslim World: A Study of Curricula, Textbooks, and Attitudes about Biological Evolution in Islamic Countries and Cultures

Evolutionary theory is accepted, world-wide, by the scientific community and considered to be of central importance to an understanding of the life, Earth, and space sciences. Yet, social controversies over the teaching of are common in North America and other Western settings, especially with regard to Christian-based creationism. Little is known in the West, however, about how Muslims have reacted to evolutionary theory, and perhaps even less is known about how evolution is taught in Islamic societies. Herein, we summarize findings derived from data collected among Muslims via questionnaires and interviews administered to students, teachers and university scientists as well as from reviews of curricular documents during a four-year study of Islamic understandings of and attitudes toward evolution and the teaching thereof. As Islam is reported to be rapidly growing in the West, and as teachers and students are influenced by their cultures and societies, the question of Islamic understandings of and reactions to evolution will likely be brought into classrooms. This study seeks to inform science teachers in the West about how Muslims might think about evolution, thus facilitating a greater understanding of the diversity of Islamic thought on evolution and evolution education.