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Evolution Korea The economic crisis that swept Asia forced a major reappraisal of the old system of business-government alliances and public management of private risks. In Korea this meant a change in the model of development. In a controversial move, the South Korean government has asked publishers of textbooks to ignore calls for removing examples of evolution from high school science texts. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses and of the bird ancestral Archaeopteryx. 1. Evolution and Religion A South Korean creationist group has persuaded textbook publishers to eliminate evidence of evolution from high-school science texts. The decision was the result of a campaign run by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), an independent offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to get rid of biology books of “atheist materialism.” The STR asserts that such materialism creates a negative image for students, making them lose faith. Scientists from all over the world expressed concerns 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. His colleagues backed him from all over the country who gathered into a group called Evolution Korea to organize an anti-textbook petition. Researchers are concerned that the STR campaign will spread to other regions of the world where the spread of creationism is increasing. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolution campaign increasing pressure on textbook revisions, especially in countries with large Christian and Muslim population. South Korea has a particularly significant cultural context for the evolution debate. Twenty-six percent of the country's citizens are members of one of the religious groups and the majority adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. In addition, a lot of Koreans adhere to Ch'ondogyo, a philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes harmony among people and individual self-cultivation. Ch'ondogyo is 에볼루션 게이밍 of teaching that the human being is one with Hanulnim the God of Sun and that the heavenly blessings can be achieved through good works. All of this has made creationism fertile ground. A number of studies have demonstrated that students with religious backgrounds are more hesitant about learning evolution than those who do not have a religious background. The underlying causes are not obvious. Students who have a religious background might be less knowledgeable about the theories of science, making them more susceptible to the creationists influence. Another factor could be that students who have religious backgrounds may see evolution as an idea that is not a religion, which makes them feel less comfortable. 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 nearly 40% of Americans believe that biological evolution is wrong and that a belief in it could be in conflict with their convictions about religion. Despite the popularity of creationism in some states, many scientists believe that the best way to stop this trend is not to be actively involved in with it, but rather inform the public about the evidence supporting evolution. Scientists have a responsibility to teach their students about science and the theory of evolution. They should also inform people about the process of science and how knowledge from science is collected and verified. They should explain how scientific theories are frequently challenged and modified. However, misinformation about the nature and purpose of scientific research can fuel anti-evolution views. For example, some people may confuse the word “theory” with the everyday meaning of the word – a hunch or a guess. In the realm of science theories are rigorously tested and verified through empirical data. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed is then a scientific principle. The debate over evolutionary theory is a good opportunity to discuss the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential for people to understand that science is unable to answer questions about the purpose or meaning of life it only serves as a mechanism by which living things can grow and change. A well-rounded education must include exposure to the vast majority of scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is crucial because a lot of jobs and decisions require that individuals understand the way science works. The majority of scientists around the world agree that humans have evolved over time. A recent study predicting adults' view of the consensus on this subject found that those with higher education levels and science knowledge were more likely to believe that 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 disapprove. It is crucial that teachers insist on the importance of understanding the consensus on this issue, so that people have a solid basis for making informed choices about their health care, energy usage and other policy issues. 3. Evolution and Culture A close relative to the popular evolutionary theory, cultural evolution explores the many ways that humans and other species learn from and interact with each other. Researchers in this field use explanatory models and investigative tools that are adapted from the ones used by evolutionary theorists. they reach back into human prehistory to determine the genesis of our capacity for cultural understanding. This approach also recognizes that there are differences between biological and cultural characteristics. Cultural traits are acquired slowly while biological traits are typically acquired at the same time (in the case of sexual species after fertilization). The acquisition of one cultural characteristic may affect the development and growth of a different. In Korea the introduction of Western elements of style in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the result an intricate sequence of events. One of the most important was the appearance in Korea of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western clothing and hairstyles. When Japan left Korea in the 1930s, some of those trends began to reverse. At the close of World War II, Korea was once again united but this time under the rule of the Choson dynasty. Today, Korea is a vibrant economic and political power. Despite the recent financial crisis, Korea's economy has been growing at a steady pace over the last decade. It is expected to continue this growth in the future. The current government is faced with many challenges. One of the most significant is the inability to come up with a consistent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed the shortcomings in the policies of the country, especially its over-reliance on exports and foreign investment which could not last. The crisis has shaken the confidence of investors. This means that the government needs to reconsider its strategy and come up with other ways to increase domestic demand. It also needs to reform the incentive monitoring, monitoring, and discipline systems currently in place to create a stable financial environment. This chapter provides a number of scenarios of how the Korean economy might develop in a post-crisis world. 4. Evolution and Education The challenge for evolution educators lies in how to teach evolutionary concepts that are appropriate for different ages and stages of development. Teachers, for instance, must be aware of the religious diversity of their classrooms and create a space where students with both religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable in learning about evolution. Teachers should also be able recognize common misconceptions about evolution and be able to correct them in the classroom. Additionally, teachers should be able to access a range of resources that are available to teach evolution and be able to locate them quickly. In this context, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was a crucial step in bringing evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of sectors to discuss the best methods for teaching about evolution. Attendees included representatives of scientific societies and educational researchers, as well as officials of government funding agencies and curriculum designers. The convergence of these diverse groups led to the identification of a common set of recommendations that will form the basis for future actions. One important recommendation is that the teaching of evolution should be integrated in all science curricula at any level. To accomplish this, the National Science Education Standards (NRC) call for evolution to 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 guidelines for schools on how to integrate evolution into the science curriculum. Numerous studies have demonstrated that a more complete presentation of evolution leads to a greater understanding of students and belief in the existence of evolution. However it is difficult to determine the causal impact of teaching in the classroom is difficult given that school curricula are not assigned randomly and change in time as a result of the predetermined timing of gubernatorial elections and appointments to the state board of education. To overcome this problem I employ a longitudinal data set which allows me to account for fixed state and year effects and individual-level variation in teacher beliefs about evolution. Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution have fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the idea that faculty who are more confident are less likely to avoid questions about evolution in the classroom, and may be more inclined to use strategies such as the reconciliatory method known to increase undergraduate students' acceptance of evolution.