Evolution Korea
The economic crisis that hit Asia required a major review of the old model of government-business alliances and public management of private risks. In Korea this meant a shift in the development paradigm.
In a controversial decision, South Korea's government has asked textbook publishers to ignore calls to remove examples of evolution in science books for high school students. This includes evidence for the evolution of horses and of the Avian an ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A group of creationists in South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution from high school science texts. The Society for Textbook Revise, an independent offshoot from the Korea Association for Creation Research that aims to cleanse biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the move. The STR claims that such materialism creates an image of negativity for students, making them abandon their faith.
Scientists from all over the world expressed concern when the STR campaign was featured in the news. Jae Choe, evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul wrote in an open letter to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was supported by colleagues from all over the country who formed a group called Evolution Korea to organize an anti-textbook petition.
Some researchers are also concerned that the STR campaign will be spread to other parts of the globe, where the spread of creationism is increasing. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolutionist movement will increase pressure for textbook revisions in other countries, especially those with large Christian and Muslim population.
South Korea has a particularly significant cultural context for the debate about evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans are part of a religion and the majority of them practice Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also adhere to Ch'ondogyo - an ideology based on Confucian principles that is a strong advocate of social harmony, individual self-cultivation, and self-respect. Ch'ondogyo teaches that human beings are one with Hanulnim, the God of the Sun, and that heavenly blessings are possible through the good deeds of a person.
All of this has made creationism fertile ground. A number of studies have demonstrated that students with religion-based backgrounds tend to feel more uncomfortable about learning evolution than those who do not have a religious background. The underlying causes are not clear. One explanation is that students with religious backgrounds tend to be as familiar with scientific concepts and theories and are therefore more susceptible to the influence of creationists. Another possible factor is that students with religious beliefs tend to view evolution as an atheistic idea and therefore less comfortable with the idea.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent years, campaigns against evolution in schools have raised concern in the scientific community. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that more than 40 percent of Americans believe that biological evolution is wrong and that a belief in it would be contrary to their convictions about religion. Many scientists believe that, despite the popularity of creationism the best way to stop this movement is to educate the public on the evidence supporting evolution.
Scientists are required to instruct their students in science and the theory of evolution. They must also inform the public about the process of scientific research and how knowledge is verified. They should explain how theories of science are frequently challenged and changed. However, misconceptions regarding the nature of scientific research often create anti-evolution beliefs.
Some people interpret the term "theory" as a hunch or a guess. However, in science, a theory is thoroughly tested and verified using empirical data. A theory that survives repeated testing and observation becomes a scientific concept.
The debate about the evolutionary theory provides a great opportunity to discuss the significance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is crucial for people to recognize that science cannot answer questions about the meaning or meaning of life, but it is merely a means that allows living things to develop and adapt.
Furthermore, a comprehensive education must include exposure to all the major scientific fields, including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because a lot of jobs and choices require people know how science operates.
The majority of scientists around the world agree that humans have evolved over time. In a study that predicted the views of adults on the consensus on this subject people with higher levels of education and knowledge of science were found to be more likely believe that there is wide agreement among scientists regarding human evolution. The people with more religious faith and less science knowledge tend to be more skeptical. It is critical that educators insist on knowing the general consensus on this issue to ensure that individuals are able to making informed decisions regarding their health care, energy usage and other policy issues.
3. Evolution and Culture
A close relative to the mainstream evolutionary theory, cultural evolution focuses on the various ways that humans and other species learn from and interact with one another. Researchers in this area use explanatory tools and investigative models that are adapted from evolutionary theorists. They also go back to human prehistory to determine the earliest sources of culture.
This approach also recognizes the difference between traits that are cultural and biological. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, at fertilization) however, cultural traits can be acquired over a long period of time. The acquisition of one cultural characteristic can affect the growth and development of a different.
In Korea, the adoption of Western elements of style in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the result an elaborate sequence of events. One of the most important was the arrival in Korea of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western hairstyles and clothes.
When 에볼루션 게이밍 left Korea in the 1930s, a few of these trends began to change. By the end of World War II, Korea was once again united but this time under the rule of the Choson dynasty.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the recent financial crisis Korea's economy has been growing steadily over the last decade. It is expected to keep this trend going in the future.
The current administration is faced with many challenges. One of the biggest is the inability to come up with a coherent policy to deal with the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed the weaknesses of the country's policies particularly its dependence on exports and foreign investment, which may not last.
The crisis has shaken the confidence of investors, the government has to review its economic strategy and look for alternatives to increase domestic demand. It must also overhaul the incentive monitoring, control, and discipline systems that are in place to guarantee a stable financial environment. This chapter presents several scenarios for how the Korean economy could grow in a post-crisis environment.
4. Evolution and Education
One of the biggest challenges for evolution educators is how to teach evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students at various age groups and developmental stages. Teachers, for instance, must be sensitive to the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create a space where students with religious and secular beliefs are comfortable with learning about evolution. Teachers should be able to recognize common misconceptions about evolution and be able to correct them in the classroom. Teachers must also have access to a range of resources to teach evolution and be able to find them quickly.
In this context, Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played a significant role in bringing together evolutionary researchers and educators from a variety of sectors to discuss best methods of teaching Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, government funding agency officials and curriculum designers. The convergence of diverse participants helped to identify a set of shared recommendations that will form the basis for future actions.
It is crucial to include evolution in all science curricula, at every level. National Science Education Standards (NRC), which call for the integration of evolution across all life sciences, with the developmentally appropriate, are a method to achieve this goal. A new publication from NRC offers guidance to schools about how to integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.
Multiple studies have proven that a more thorough explanation of evolution can lead to greater student understanding and belief in evolution. It is difficult to estimate the causal effects of evolution in the classroom, since school curricula don't change randomly and are dependent on the timing of state boards of education and gubernatorial elections. To overcome this issue, I use a longitudinal data set that lets me control for year and state fixed effects and individual-level variation in teacher beliefs regarding the evolution of their curriculum.
Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution report fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the hypothesis that a more experienced faculty is less likely to avoid tackling evolution topics in the classroom and might be more likely employ strategies like the reconciliatory approach that has been proven to improve the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution (Harms and Reiss 2019; Tolman et al., 2020).