The contribution of understandings of evolutionary theory and nature of science to pre-service science teachers' acceptance of evolutionary theory

This study examined how well pre-service science teachers' understandings of evolutionary theory and nature of science predict their acceptance of evolutionary theory. A total of 136 pre-service science teachers participated in the study. Data were collected through Evolution Content Knowledge Test, Nature of Science as Argument Questionnaire and Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution and analyzed by using Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The analysis revealed that only understanding of nature of science made a statistically significant positive contribution to the prediction of participants' acceptance of evolutionary theor