A Productive Rant About Evolution Korea

Evolution Korea The economic crisis which swept Asia prompted a major reappraisal the traditional system of government, business alliances, as well the public management of risk. In Korea, that meant a shift in the development paradigm. In a controversial move South Korea's government has requested textbook publishers not to comply with calls to eliminate examples of evolution in science books for high school students. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses and the bird ancestor 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 independent offshoot from the Korea Association for Creation Research that aims to cleanse biology textbooks of “atheist materialism,” was behind the decision. The STR claims such materialism portrays negative images to students, leading them to be skeptical. Scientists from all over the world expressed worry when the STR campaign made headlines. Jae Choe, an evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, complained in a letter to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was backed up by colleagues around 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 could be spread to other regions of the globe, including areas where creationism has been growing. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolutionist movement will intensify pressure for revisions to textbooks in other countries, particularly those with large Christian and Muslim populations. South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the debate about evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans belong to of a religious community with the majority of them practicing Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also follow Ch'ondogyo, the philosophy based on Confucian principles, which emphasizes 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 heaven-bound blessings can be obtained by doing good deeds. All of this has provided fertile ground for the spread of creationism. Numerous studies have found that students with religious backgrounds to be more hesitant to learn about evolution than those who don't. The underlying causes of this phenomenon are not clear. Students who are religious may be less familiar with scientific theories, which makes them more susceptible to creationists' influence. Another possibility is that students who have a religious background are more likely to view evolution as a religious concept which could make them less comfortable with it. 2. Evolution and Science In recent years, campaigns against evolution in schools have raised concerns among the scientific community. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that nearly 40 percent of Americans believed that biological evolution was not true and that it would be in conflict with their religious beliefs. Many scientists believe that, despite the success of creationism the best method to combat this movement is to educate the public about the evidence for evolution. Scientists have a responsibility to instruct their students in science including the theory of evolution. They should also inform the public about the research process and the way in which knowledge is confirmed. They should also explain that scientific theories are often challenged and revised. However, misunderstandings about the nature of scientific research frequently create anti-evolution beliefs. For example, some people confuse the term “theory” with the common meaning of the word, which is a hunch or a guess. In science, however the hypothesis is tested thoroughly, and empirical data is used to prove it. A theory that survives repeated testing and observations becomes an established scientific principle. 에볼루션 블랙잭 about evolutionary theory is an excellent occasion to discuss the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential to realize that science is not able to answer questions about the meaning or meaning of life but it is merely a means through which living organisms can grow and change. A well-rounded education should include exposure to all major fields of science including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because the jobs that people hold and the choices they make require understanding of how science functions. The vast majority scientists in the world agree that humans have changed through time. A recent study that predicted adults' opinions of the consensus on this subject found that those who had higher levels of education and science knowledge were more likely to believe that there is a broad agreement among scientists on the subject of human evolution. Those with more religious faith but less science knowledge tend to be more divided. It is essential that educators insist on the importance of understanding the general consensus on this issue to ensure that people have a solid foundation for making informed choices about their health care, energy usage and other issues of policy. 3. Evolution and Culture A close relative to mainstream evolutionary theory, the concept of cultural evolution explores the many ways that organisms, including humans, learn from and with one another. Researchers in this field employ elaborate tools and investigative models derived from evolutionary theorists. They also go back to prehistoric times to determine the earliest sources of culture. This approach also recognizes the distinction between traits that are cultural and biological. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, at fertilization) but cultural traits can be acquired over a lengthy period of time. As a result, the acquisition of one trait may affect the development of another. In Korea, for example the emergence of Western fashion elements in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th centuries was the result of a variety of events. One of the most significant was the arrival in Korea of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western clothing and hairstyles. After that, when Japan departed Korea in the 1930s, a few of these trends began to change. At the end of World War II, Korea was united once more but this time under Choson dynasty rule. Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the recent financial crisis the economy of Korea has been growing at a steady pace over the last decade. It is expected to keep this trend going in the future. However, the current administration is facing a variety of challenges. The government's inability to formulate a coherent plan to tackle the current economic crisis is among the biggest challenges. The crisis has exposed weaknesses of the country's economic 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. This means that the government must reconsider its approach and find other ways to increase domestic demand. To ensure a stable economic climate the government needs to overhaul its incentive, monitoring and discipline systems. This chapter offers a number of scenarios of how the Korean economy might develop in the post-crisis era. 4. Evolution and Education The challenge for evolution educators lies in how to teach evolutionary concepts that are appropriate for different stages of development and ages. Teachers need to, for instance be mindful of the diversity of religions within their classrooms and create a learning environment where students with both religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable. Moreover, teachers need to recognize common misconceptions about evolution and how to address these in their classrooms. Teachers must also have access to a range of resources that are available for teaching evolution and be able to find them quickly. In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was a crucial step in bringing evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of fields to discuss best practices for teaching about evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies as well as educational research, officials of government funding agencies as well as curriculum designers. The convergence of these diverse groups resulted in a consensus set of recommendations that will be the foundation for future actions. It is essential to incorporate evolution in all science curricula at every level. National Science Education Standards (NRC) that call for the integration of evolution across all life sciences with the developmentally appropriate, are a good way to accomplish this goal. A new publication from NRC provides guidance for schools on how to integrate evolution into the life science curriculum. Multiple studies have shown that a more complete presentation of evolution is linked to greater student understanding and belief in evolution. However the estimation of the causal impact of teaching in the classroom is difficult due to the fact that school curriculums are not assigned randomly and evolve in time as a result of the predetermined timeframe of gubernatorial elections as well as state board of education appointments. To overcome this problem I use an ongoing dataset that gives me control for the fixed effects of state and years and individual-level variations in the beliefs of teachers regarding evolutionary theory. Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution also have less internal barriers. This is in line with the idea that more confident faculty are less likely to be hesitant about teaching about evolution in the classroom, and may be more inclined to use strategies such as the reconciliatory method which is used to increase the students' understanding of evolution.