Preparing Teachers to Prepare Students for Post-Secondary Science: Observations From a Workshop About Evolution in the Classroom

This paper summarizes the content and results of a workshop about the teaching of evolution presented to public middle school and high school science teachers by individuals involved both in university education and the professional development of teachers. The goals of the workshop were to: (1) provide teachers with knowledge and resources to more effectively teach evolutionary theory, (2) increase teacher awareness of legal and cognitive issues associated with the teaching and learning of evolution, (3) address teacher misconceptions about evolutionary theory, (4) assess teachers’ acceptance of evolutionary theory, and (5) make inferences about the preparedness of Arizona’s public school students for a rigorous university life science curriculum that includes evolutionary biology. Participating teachers created concept maps abou