Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that swept across Asia caused a major review of the traditional system of government, business alliances, and public management of risks. In Korea this meant a change in the model of development.
In a controversial move, the South Korean government has requested textbook publishers to ignore requests to remove examples of evolution in high school science textbooks. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses and of the Avian an ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A South Korean creationist group has pushed textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution from high-school science texts. The Society for Textbook Revise, an independent branch of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to rid biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the decision. The STR claims that such materialism creates an image of negativity for students, causing them to be skeptical.
Scientists around the globe expressed concerns when the STR campaign gained attention. Jae Choe, an evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul and wrote an email to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was backed up by colleagues across the country, who formed a group called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the changes to the textbooks.
Some researchers are also worried that the STR campaign could spread to other parts of the globe where the belief in the prevalence of creationism is rising. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolution movement putting more pressure on textbook revisions, specifically in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations.
South Korea has a particularly significant cultural context for the debate on evolution. 26 percent of the country's citizens belong to one of the religious groups, and most adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. In addition, many Koreans adhere to the philosophy of Ch'ondogyo. It is that is based on Confucian principles that emphasizes social harmony and individual self-cultivation. Ch'ondogyo is a way of teaching that the human being is one with Hanulnim, the God of Sun and that the heavenly blessings are achievable by doing good deeds.
All of this has provided an ideal environment for the spread of creationism. Numerous studies have found that students who have a religious background to be more uncomfortable learning about evolution than those who don't. The underlying causes of this phenomenon are not clear. One reason is that students with religious backgrounds tend to be as knowledgeable about scientific theories and concepts and are therefore more vulnerable to the influence of creationists. Another possibility is that students who have a religious background are more likely to view evolution as an atheistic idea which could make them less at ease with it.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent times, scientists have been concerned about anti-evolution efforts in schools. A study conducted in 2009 found that over 40% of Americans believe that biological evolution is a lie and that believing in it would be contrary to their convictions about religion. Despite the success of creationism in some states, a lot of scientists feel that the best strategy to stop this trend is not to engage with it, but rather educate the public about the evidence for evolution.
Scientists are responsible to teach their students science, which includes the theory of evolution. They should also educate the public on the research process and the way in which knowledge is confirmed. They should explain how theories of science are frequently challenged and revised. However, misperceptions regarding the nature of scientific research often cause people to believe that evolution is not real.
Many people mistake the term "theory" as a guess or a guess. In the field of science, however, a hypothesis is rigorously tested and empirical data is used to prove it. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed is then a scientific principle.
The debate on evolution theory is a great opportunity to discuss both the importance of scientific methodology and its limits. It is essential to realize that science cannot answer questions regarding the purpose or meaning of life but only provides a mechanism that allows living things to develop and adapt.
A well-rounded education should also include exposure to all major scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because the jobs that people hold and the choices they make require understanding of how science functions.
The majority of scientists around world accept that humans have evolved over time. A recent study that predicted the adults' view of the consensus around this issue found that those with higher education levels and science knowledge were more likely to believe there is a broad agreement among scientists on the subject of human evolution. The people with more religious beliefs and have less science knowledge are more likely to disagree. It is essential that educators insist on the importance of knowing the general consensus on this issue to ensure that individuals are able to making informed choices about their health care, energy use and other policy issues.
3. Evolution and Culture
A close cousin to the popular evolutionary theory, the concept of cultural evolution focuses on the various ways humans--and other organisms--learn from and interact with each other. Researchers in this field use elaborate tools and investigative models derived from evolutionary theorists and reach back to prehistoric times to find the earliest sources of culture.
This approach also recognizes the differences between cultural and biological traits. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, during fertilization) but cultural traits can be acquired over a lengthy period of time. In the end, the acquisition of one cultural trait may affect the development of another.
In Korea For instance the emergence of Western fashion elements in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th centuries was the result of a variety of events. One of the most important was the arrival of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western hairstyles and clothing styles to Korean society.
After that, when Japan left Korea in the 1930s, a portion of those trends began to reverse. At the close of World War II, Korea was united once more and again under Choson dynasty rule.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the current global financial crisis, the country's economy has grown steadily in the past decade and is poised to continue its healthy growth in the future.
The current government is confronted with many challenges. The inability of the government to develop a coherent strategy to address the current economic crisis is one of the most significant challenges. The crisis has revealed the shortcomings of the country's economic policies, particularly its dependence on foreign investment and exports that may not be sustainable over the long term.
The crisis has shaken confidence of investors. As a result, the government needs to rethink its strategy and find ways to increase domestic demand. It must also overhaul the incentive, monitoring, and disciplining systems in place to guarantee a stable financial environment. This chapter presents several scenarios of how the Korean economy could grow in a post-crisis environment.
4. Evolution and Education
The biggest challenge for educators of evolution is how to teach evolutionary concepts in a manner that is appropriate for students at various ages and developmental stages. Teachers, for instance, must be sensitive to the religious diversity in their classrooms and create a setting that students who have religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable learning evolution. Teachers must be able to recognize common misconceptions regarding evolution and be able to correct them in the classroom. Teachers should also have quick access to the various resources that can be used to teach evolution.
In this regard the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was an important step in bringing together evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of fields to discuss best methods for teaching about evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, officials of government funding agencies as well as curriculum developers. The convergence of these diverse stakeholders helped to identify a shared set of recommendations that will be the basis for future action.
One important recommendation is that the study of evolution should be integrated in every science curriculum at every level. National Science Education Standards (NRC) which require the integration of evolution across all life sciences, with the developmentally appropriate, are a method to achieve this goal. A new publication from NRC provides guidance for schools on how to integrate evolution in the life science curriculum.
Multiple studies have shown that a more complete presentation of evolution is linked to a greater understanding of students and belief in evolution. It is difficult to quantify the causality of teaching in the classroom, since school curricula do not change on a regular basis and are affected by the timing of state board of education and gubernatorial election. To overcome 에볼루션바카라사이트 utilize a longitudinal data set that allows me to control for year and state fixed effects and individual-level variation in teacher beliefs about the evolution of their curriculum.
Another important finding is that teachers who feel more comfortable teaching evolution report having fewer intrapersonal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the hypothesis that more experienced faculty are less likely to avoid questions about evolution in the classroom, and may be more inclined to employ strategies such as a reconciliatory approach that is known to boost the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution.