The Complete Guide To Evolution Korea
Evolution Korea
The economic crisis which swept Asia caused a major review of the traditional system of government, business alliances, and public management of risk. In Korea this meant a shift in the model of development.
In a controversial decision, South Korea's government has requested textbook publishers not to comply with calls to remove examples of evolution in science books for high school students. These include the evidence for evolution of horses and of the Avian ancestral 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 offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to rid biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the move. The STR claims that such materialistic views create a negative image for students, and could lead to their eventual denial of faith.
When the STR's campaign made the news, scientists around the globe expressed alarm. In a letter addressed to the editor of Nature evolutionary biologist Jae Choe at 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 an organization called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the changes to the textbooks.
Some researchers are concerned that the STR will expand to other parts of the globe, including areas where creationism is on the rise. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolution campaign increasing pressure on textbook revisions, especially in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations.
South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the debate on evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans are part of a religion with the majority of them practicing Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also follow Ch'ondogyo, the philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes harmony in the social, personal self-cultivation, and self-respect. Ch'ondogyo teaches that human beings are one with Hanulnim, the God of the Sun, and that heaven-bound blessings can be derived through good works.
All of this has provided an ideal environment for the spread of creationism. Several studies have shown that students with religious backgrounds tend to feel more uncomfortable about learning evolution than those without religion. The causes behind this are not obvious. One explanation is that students who have religious backgrounds tend to be as knowledgeable about scientific concepts and theories and are therefore more vulnerable to the influence of creationists. Another reason could be that students who have a religious background are more likely to see evolution as a religious concept and therefore less comfortable with it.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent times, scientists have been concerned about the anti-evolution agenda in schools. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that nearly 40 percent of Americans believed that biological evolution was wrong and that it would be in conflict with their religious beliefs. Despite the success of creationism in some states, many scientists feel that the best method to combat this inclination is not to engage with it, but rather educate the public on the evidence supporting evolution.
Scientists are responsible for teaching their students science that includes the theory of evolution. They should also inform the public about the research process and how knowledge is confirmed. They should explain how theories of science are often challenged and revised. However, misperceptions about the nature of scientific research often cause people to believe that evolution is not real.
For instance, many people are able to confuse the term "theory" with the everyday meaning of the word, which is a hunch or guess. In science, however, a theory is rigorously tested and verified through empirical data. A theory that has survived repeated testing and observation is a scientific principle.
The debate over the evolutionary theory provides a great occasion to discuss the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential that people understand that science cannot answer questions about life's purpose or meaning, but rather provides a mechanism for living things to grow and evolve.
A well-rounded education should cover the vast majority of scientific fields, including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because the jobs that people hold and the decisions they make require knowledge of how science works.
The vast majority of scientists around the world believe that humans have changed over time. In a recent study, which predicted adults' views of the consensus on this subject, those with higher levels education and science knowledge were found to be more likely believe there is a wide agreement among scientists about human evolution. The people with more religious faith and less science-based knowledge tend to be more skeptical. It is critical that educators insist on knowing the general consensus on this issue to ensure that people are able to making informed choices about their health care, energy use, and other policy issues.
3. Evolution and Culture
A close relative to the mainstream evolutionary theory, the concept of cultural evolution studies the numerous ways humans--and other organisms--learn from and interact with each other. Researchers in this field employ elaborate tools and investigative models that are adapted from evolutionary theorists and reach back to prehistoric times to find the origins of culture.
This approach also recognizes the distinction between cultural and biological traits. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, after fertilization) but cultural traits can be acquired over a long period of time. As a result, the acquisition of one cultural trait can influence the development of another.
In Korea the emergence of Western style elements in the latter part of the nineteenth and early 20th century was the result of an intricate sequence of events. One of the most important was the arrival of Japanese occupation forces who introduced Western hairstyles and clothing styles to Korean society.
Then, when Japan departed Korea in the 1930s, some of these trends began reverse. By the end World War II, Korea was united once more, this time under Choson dynasty rule.
Today, Korea is a vibrant political and economic power. Despite the recent global financial crisis, the country's economy has grown consistently over the last decade and is expected to sustain its steady growth in the coming years.
The current government is confronted with a variety of challenges. One of the most serious is its inability to find a coherent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed weaknesses in the country's policies and its reliance on foreign investment and exports that may not last.
The financial crisis has shaken the confidence of investors. In More Help , the government must reconsider its approach and find other ways to boost the domestic demand. It will also have to overhaul the incentive monitoring, control, and discipline systems currently in place to create an environment that is stable for the financial sector. This chapter provides a variety of scenarios of how the Korean economy could grow in the post-crisis era.
4. Evolution and Education
The challenge for teachers of evolution is how to teach evolutionary concepts that are appropriate for different levels of development and ages. Teachers need to, for instance be aware of the religious diversity in their classrooms and create an environment where students with both religious and secular beliefs are at ease. Teachers should also be able recognize common misconceptions about evolution and be able to correct them in the classroom. Finally, teachers must be able to access a range of resources for teaching evolution and be able to locate them quickly.
In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played a significant role in bringing evolutionary researchers and educators from various sectors to discuss best methods of teaching Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, officials from government funding agencies and curriculum designers. The convergence of various stakeholders led to the development of some common guidelines that will form the basis for any future actions.
A key recommendation is that the subject of evolution should be included in every science curriculum at every level. To achieve this it is recommended that the National Science Education Standards (NRC) require that evolution be taught in a unified manner across all sciences with a progression of concepts that are developmental appropriate. Additionally, a new publication from the NRC provides guidance to schools on how they can integrate evolution into their life science curriculum.
A number of studies have demonstrated that a more comprehensive teaching of evolution is linked to greater student knowledge and belief in the existence of evolution. It is difficult to quantify the causality of teaching in the classroom, since school curricula don't change on a regular basis and are affected by the timing of the state board of education and gubernatorial election. To overcome this problem I employ a longitudinal dataset that allows me to control the fixed effects of state and years and individual-level variations in the beliefs of teachers regarding evolutionary theory.
Another significant finding is that teachers who are more comfortable teaching about evolution report having fewer personal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the hypothesis that more confident faculty are less likely to be hesitant about evolution-related topics in the classroom, and could be more likely to employ strategies such as a reconciliatory approach known to increase the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution.