• 목록
• 답변
• 글쓰기
• 게시판 리스트 옵션
  • 수정
  • 삭제

Evolution Korea

The economic crisis that swept Asia forced a major reappraisal of the old system of business-government alliances and the management by the public of private risks. In Korea, that meant an evolution of the development paradigm.

In a controversial decision the South Korean government has asked textbook publishers to ignore requests for the removal of examples of evolution in science texts for high school students. These include the evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the avian ancestor Archaeopteryx.

1. Evolution and Religion

A creationist group from South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to exclude evidence of evolution from high school science texts. This was the result of a campaign run by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), an independent affiliate of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to get rid of textbooks on biology of "atheist materialism." The STR claims that such materialistic thinking creates a negative picture for students and leads to their eventual denial of faith.

When the STR's campaign made the news, scientists across the globe expressed worry. Jae Choe, 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 supported by colleagues across the country, who set up an organization called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the textbook changes.

Some scientists are worried about the possibility that the STR campaign could spread to other regions of the world where the belief in creationism is on the rise. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolutionist movement will push for textbook revisions in other countries, notably those with strong Christian and Muslim population.

South Korea's cultural background is especially strong in the evolution debate. 26 percent of South Koreans belong to of a religion with the majority of them practicing Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also adhere to Ch'ondogyo, a philosophy based upon Confucian principles, which 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 can be obtained through good works.

All of this has created a fertile ground. Numerous studies have revealed that students who have religious backgrounds to be more reluctant to learn about evolution than those who do not. The causes behind this are not clear. Students who have a religious background might be less experienced with scientific theories, making them more susceptible to the creationists influence. Another reason could be that students with a religious background may view evolution as a concept that is atheistic, making them feel uncomfortable.

2. Evolution and Science

In recent years the scientific community has been concerned about anti-evolution initiatives in schools. A survey in 2009 revealed that 40 percent of Americans believed that biological evolution was wrong and that it would conflict their religious beliefs. Many scientists believe that despite the success of creationism the best way to combat this movement is to educate the public about the evidence for evolution.

Scientists are responsible for teaching their students science including the theory of evolution. They should also inform the public about the science process, and how scientific knowledge is collected and validated. They should also clarify that scientific theories are frequently challenged and revised. However, misunderstandings regarding the nature of scientific research frequently fuel anti-evolution beliefs.

For example, some people confuse the term "theory" with the normal meaning of the word, which is a hunch or guess. In the realm of science, a theory is rigorously tested and verified with evidence. A theory that is tested and observed repeatedly becomes a scientific principle.

The debate about evolution theory is a great chance to discuss the importance of scientific methodology and its limits. It is crucial that people understand that science is not able to answer questions about the purpose of life or meaning, but offers a way for living things to evolve and evolve.

A comprehensive education should include exposure to all major scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is especially important since the jobs that people have and the decisions they make require a understanding of how science functions.

The majority of scientists across the world believe that humans have evolved over time. A recent study that predicted the adults' view of the consensus on this subject found that those who had higher levels of education and knowledge of science were more likely to believe there is a consensus among scientists on the subject of human evolution. The people with more religious beliefs and less science-based knowledge are more likely to disagree. It is important that educators insist on the importance of understanding this consensus, to enable people to make informed decisions regarding the use of energy, health care and other policy issues.

3. Evolution and Culture

Cultural evolution is a cousin of the popular evolutionary theory. It focuses on how humans and other organisms learn from one another. Researchers in this field use elaborate models and tools adapted from those used by evolutionary theorists, and they reach back into human prehistory to find out the origins of our capacity for cultural understanding.

This approach also recognizes the difference between traits that are cultural and biological. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, after fertilization), cultural traits can be acquired over a protracted period of time. The acquisition of one characteristic can influence the growth and development of another.

In Korea, for example the emergence of Western fashion elements in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century was the result of a complex series of events. One of the most significant was the arrival of Japanese occupation forces who introduced Western hairstyles and clothing styles to Korean society.

When Japan left Korea in the 1930s, some of these changes began to reverse. At the close of World War II, Korea was united once more, this time under Choson dynasty rule.

Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the recent global financial crisis, the country's economy has been growing steadily over the last decade and is set to sustain its steady growth in the coming years.

The current government is facing a variety of challenges. One of the biggest is its inability to find a coherent policy to deal with the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed weaknesses of the country's economy policies, mainly its overreliance on foreign investment and exports which might not be sustainable in the long run.

The crisis has shaken confidence of investors. In the aftermath, the government needs to reconsider its strategy and come up with other ways to boost the domestic demand. To ensure a stable financial climate the government will need reform its incentive system, monitoring and discipline. This chapter offers a variety of scenarios of how the Korean economy might develop post-crisis.

4. Evolution and Education

One of the biggest challenges for educators of evolution is how to present evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students of various ages and developmental stages. For example, teachers must be sensitive to the religious diversity in their classrooms and create a setting where students with religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable learning evolution. Teachers must also recognize common misconceptions about evolution and how to address them in their classrooms. Finally, teachers must have access to a range of resources for teaching evolution and be able to find them quickly.

In this context, Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation played an important role in bringing evolutionary researchers and educators from a variety of sectors to discuss best methods of teaching about Evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, government funding agency officials and curriculum developers. The convergence of diverse stakeholders helped identify some common guidelines that will form the basis for any future actions.

It is crucial to include evolution in all science curricula at every level. To accomplish this it is recommended that the National Science Education Standards (NRC) require that evolution be taught in a unified way across the life sciences, with a progression of concepts that are developmental appropriate. A new publication from the NRC offers guidance to schools on how they can integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.

A number of studies have demonstrated that a more comprehensive teaching of evolution can lead to higher levels of student understanding and belief in evolution. It is difficult to determine the causal effects of evolution in the classroom, since school curricula do not change randomly and are influenced by the timing of the state board of education and gubernatorial elections. To overcome this limitation I use a longitudinal data set that gives me to control state and years fixed effects and individual-level variations in the beliefs of teachers about evolutionary theory.

Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution have fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the hypothesis that a more experienced faculty is less likely to avoid discussing evolution topics in the classroom and may be more likely to use strategies such as an approach to reconciliation that is known to improve the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution (Harms and Reiss, 2019; Tolman et al. 2020).