Using different acceptance measures: The interplay of evolution acceptance, evolution understanding, and religious belief among German preservice biology teachers, secondary school students, and creationists

Evolution understanding is often positively connected with magnitudes of evolution acceptance, whereas religiosity mostly interferes negatively. However, comparisons between studies and countries must be treated cautiously due to the diversity of used instruments and samples. This study aims to generate new evidence concerning the interplay of evolution acceptance, evolution understanding, and religious belief by comparing the results of preservice biology teachers, school students, and self-identified creationists answering several acceptance instruments (i.e., ATEVO, GAENE, I-SEA, and MATE) while using the same measurement for understanding and belief. Results of our regression analysis indicate that belief and understanding were significant predictors but often diminished after including the interaction term of belief and understanding. When gender is included in the model, this variable is often significant. The interaction term of belief and understanding was only significant for two instruments in the group of school students. For the creationists, gender appeared as the essential term. While relationship patterns of preservice biology teachers seldom seem to be impacted by the choice of acceptance instruments (at least in correlations and regressions using only belief and understanding), this is not true for our school students and creationists. Our findings indicate that the magnitude of understanding may not mutually be the exclusive factor for (non-)acceptance. Other factors, such as gender or religiosity, might be more prominent in people's attitudes toward (controversial) topics. Our study creates new insights into the interplay of acceptance, understanding, and belief, and we encourage researchers to carefully consider their choice of instruments.Peer Reviewe

Entwicklung von Schülereinstellungen zu den Fächern Sachunterricht, Naturwissenschaften und Biologie beim Übergang von der Grundschule in die Sekundarstufe I

Volitionale Komponenten von Scientific Literacy wie Einstellungen, Interessen und Motivation von Schülerinnen und Schülern wurden bisher wenig untersucht, obwohl Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass sie eine wichtige Rolle in der Kompetenzentwicklung spielen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Entwicklung von Schülereinstellungen zu den Fächern Sachunterricht, Naturwissenschaften und Biologie im Laufe der Grundschulzeit und beim Übergang in die Sekundarstufe I untersucht. Die theoretische Grundlage bildet das sozialpsychologische Einstellungskonstrukt. Basierend auf vier verschiedenen Einstellungsausprägungen in Bezug auf „Lernfreude“, „Ziel- und Leistungsorientierung“, „Langeweile“ und „Frustration“ wurde ein längsschnittliches Untersuchungsdesign mit zwei Teilstudien entwickelt. Im Rahmen dieser Längsschnittstudie wurden zwei empirisch geprüfte Instrumente in Form von likertskalierten Fragebögen eingesetzt. Anhand der Befunde kann gezeigt werden, dass sowohl der Übergang zwischen den naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern als auch der Übergang in die Sekundarstufe I die Entwicklung der Schülereinstellungen beeinflusst. Über die Grundschulzeit und darüber hinaus zeigt sich eine stetige Abnahme an Schülerinnen und Schülern mit der Einstellungsausprägung „Lernfreude“ bzw. „Lernfreude und Ziel- und Leistungsorientierung“. Gleichzeitig steigt die Zahl der Schülerinnen und Schülern mit den Einstellungsausprägungen „Langeweile“ und „Frustration“. Nach dem Übergang in die Sekundarstufe I sinkt die Zahl der Schülerinnen und Schüler mit der Einstellungsausprägung „Frustration“ wieder. Mithilfe der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es möglich, in Zukunft Tendenzen vorherzusagen, wie sich Schülereinstellungen in der Grundschule und beim Übergang in die Sekundarstufe I entwickeln. Zudem können die Ergebnisse Lehrpersonen bei der Vorbereitung von Unterricht in den Fächern Sachunterricht, Naturwissenschaften und Biologie von Nutzen sein.Up to now there are few studies investigating volitional components of scientific literacy such as students’ attitudes, interests and motivation. Some research findings show that the volitional components play an important role in competence development. The present study focuses on the development of students’ attitudes towards natural scientific subjects in primary school and during the transition to secondary school. The theoretical framework used is the attitude construct developed in social psychology. The longitudinal research design comprises two sub-studies based upon four different attitude expressions relating to “enjoyment of learning”, “orientation towards aim and achievement”, “boredom” and “frustration”. Two empirically tested questionnaires were put in place in order to investigate the development of students’ attitudes towards the subjects general sciences, natural sciences and biology. In accordance with the findings of other studies the results of this longitudinal study show that the initial “enjoyment of learning” (sub-study 1) as well as “enjoyment of learning and orientation towards aim and achievement” (sub-study 2) declines over the school years. At the same time the attitude expressions “boredom” and “frustration” can be found in an increasing number of students. After the transition to secondary school the number of students with the attitude expression “frustration” declines. There seems to be an impact of the transition on the development of students’ attitudes. Knowing how attitudes develop during the transition to secondary school could be a basis for the design and development of teaching science education and help to form transition programs and strategies which trigger the development of positive attitudes. The outcome of this would be a development of scientific literacy

Validity aspects in measuring evolution acceptance: Evidence from surveys of preservice biology teachers and creationists

Over the past decades, a large body of research has examined students' magnitudes of evolution acceptance and related measurement issues resulting in questions concerning instruments' validity and operationalization. Until now, several studies investigated validity aspects of often-used evolution acceptance instruments and came to diverging conclusions about instruments' scores comparability. Within the last years, religious identity was identified as a significant predictor for magnitudes of evolution acceptance. However, religious identity can also point to validity issues if aspects of the content under investigation are interpreted differently based on specific religious identity. Additionally, self-identified creationists could serve as a source of validity evidence due to the assumption that creationists should score lower on an evolution acceptance instrument than groups with more scientifically adequate views. Thus, we aim to provide additional validity evidence for often-used evolution acceptance instruments within a European context (i.e., Germany) by comparing two groups of particular interest for research in science education: preservice biology teachers and self-identified creationists. Exploring evidence based on (1) internal structure, (2) relationships with other variables, and (3) test content provides arguments for test interpretations' validity. A total of 286 persons (206 preservice biology teachers and 81 self-identified creationists) participated in a survey comprised of six often-used evolution acceptance measures (i.e., MATE, GAENE, I-SEA, ATEVO, Gallup question, and 100 point questions). Overall, our findings indicate that the six applied instruments demonstrate differences concerning their evidence for sound interpretation. In particular, the DIF and dimensionality analyses lead to the assumption that the GAENE may be multidimensional other than theoretically expected. In general, the multi-item measures were stronger related to each other than to the general public polls. Using an instrument that differentiates between microevolution and macroevolution is advisable for creationist samples or samples with a remarkable share of creationists' views.Peer Reviewe

Fascination and Joy: Emotions Predict Urban Gardeners’ Pro-Pollinator Behaviour

The conservation of pollinators requires social understanding to catalyse restoration action. Citizen science (CS) is discussed as a way to promote interest and action for pollinating insects. Yet, the drivers behind pro-pollinator behaviour are largely unclear, especially in urban areas. To better understand public engagement in pollinator conservation, we studied urban community gardeners’ identity, nature-relatedness, emotions, and attitudes toward pollinators and their intentions to get involved in pro-pollinator behaviour in their gardening practice. We surveyed community gardeners in Berlin and Munich, Germany, some of which were participating in a citizen science project. In this scientific study, we created four different sets of generalized linear models to analyse how the gardeners’ pro-pollinator behaviour intentions and behaviour were explained by socio-psychological factors. The responses of 111 gardeners revealed that gardeners that were fascinated by pollinators, held positive attitudes and felt joy about seeing pollinators reported intentions to protect or support pollinators, suggesting that fascination and joy can be harnessed for research and conservation on pollinators. Similarly, joy about seeing pollinators predicted participation in the CS project. We believe that CS may represent a pathway through which urban residents may become key actors in conservation projects within their nearby greenspaces

Motivation und Naturerleben – Naturerleben und Motivation

Wilde M. Motivation und Naturerleben – Naturerleben und Motivation. In: Gebhard U, Lude A, Möller A, Moormann A, eds. Naturerfahrung und Bildung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS; 2021: 115-128

Naturerfahrungen und ihre Bedeutung für die Genese von Naturverbundenheit bei Grundschulkindern

Sellmann-Risse D, Fränkel S, Basten M. Naturerfahrungen und ihre Bedeutung für die Genese von Naturverbundenheit bei Grundschulkindern. In: Gebhard U, Lude A, Möller A, Moormann A, eds. Naturerfahrung und Bildung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS; 2021: 247-262

Neue Arbeitsgruppe „Außerschulisches Biologielernen“

Gebhard U, Lindner M, Lude A, et al. Neue Arbeitsgruppe „Außerschulisches Biologielernen“. Biologie in unserer Zeit. 2018;48(1):18-19.Die besonderen Potenziale außerschulischen Biologielernens sind unumstritten. Sie basieren vor allem auf der direkten Begegnung mit Naturobjekten und auf authentischen Kontexten. Auch die in Bildungsstandards geforderte naturwissenschaftliche Grundbildung der breiten Bevölkerung zeigt sich nicht in erster Linie im Klassenraum, sondern außerhalb der Schule. Eine neue Arbeitsgruppe innerhalb des VBIO will sich dafür einsetzen, dass die Möglichkeiten des außerschulischen Biologielernens besser genutzt und mit dem klassischen Biologieunterricht enger verknüpft werden

Performance of health workers in the management of seriously sick children at a Kenyan tertiary hospital:before and after a training intervention

BACKGROUND: Implementation of WHO case management guidelines for serious common childhood illnesses remains a challenge in hospitals in low-income countries. The impact of locally adapted clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) on the quality-of-care of patients in tertiary hospitals has rarely been evaluated. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted, in Kenyatta National Hospital, an uncontrolled before and after study with an attempt to explore intervention dose-effect relationships, as CPGs were disseminated and training was progressively implemented. The emergency triage, assessment and treatment plus admission care (ETAT+) training and locally adapted CPGs targeted common, serious childhood illnesses. We compared performance in the pre-intervention (2005) and post-intervention periods (2009) using quality indicators for three diseases: pneumonia, dehydration and severe malnutrition. The indicators spanned four domains in the continuum of care namely assessment, classification, treatment, and follow-up care in the initial 48 hours of admission. In the pre-intervention period patients' care was largely inconsistent with the guidelines, with nine of the 15 key indicators having performance of below 10%. The intervention produced a marked improvement in guideline adherence with an absolute effect size of over 20% observed in seven of the 15 key indicators; three of which had an effect size of over 50%. However, for all the five indicators that required sustained team effort performance continued to be poor, at less than 10%, in the post-intervention period. Data from the five-year period (2005-09) suggest some dose dependency though the adoption rate of the best-practices varied across diseases and over time. CONCLUSION: Active dissemination of locally adapted clinical guidelines for common serious childhood illnesses can achieve a significant impact on documented clinical practices, particularly for tasks that rely on competence of individual clinicians. However, more attention must be given to broader implementation strategies that also target institutional and organisational aspects of service delivery to further enhance quality-of-care

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from grand multigravidae display a distinct cytokine profile in response to P. falciparum infected erythrocytes

Immunopathology of placental malaria is most significant in women in their first pregnancy especially in endemic areas, due to a lack of protective immunity to Plasmodium falciparum, which is acquired in successive pregnancies. In some studies (but not all), grand multigravidae (defined as 5 or more pregnancies, G5–7) are more susceptible to poor birth outcomes associated with malaria compared to earlier gravidities. By comparing peripheral cellular responses in primigravidae (G1), women in their second to fourth pregnancy (G2–4) and grand multigravidae we sought to identify key components of the dysregulated immune response. PBMC were exposed to CS2-infected erythrocytes (IE) opsonised with autologous plasma or unopsonised IE, and cytokine and chemokine secretion was measured. Higher levels of opsonising antibody were present in plasma derived from multigravid compared to primigravid women. Significant differences in the levels of cytokines and chemokines secreted in response to IE were observed. Less IL-10, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF but more CXCL8, CCL8, IFNγ and CXCL10 were detected in G5–7 compared to G2–4 women. Our study provides fresh insight into the modulation of peripheral blood cell function and effects on the balance between host protection and immunopathology during placental malaria infection