| The present study examined changes in university students' attitudes toward and knowledge of evolution measured by the previously validated Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS). Students were assessed at a large Midwestern U. S. university prior to and following completion of either an undergraduate political science, biology, or evolutionary psychology course. A multiple group repeated measures confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine latent mean differences in self-reported political activity, religious conservatism, evolution knowledge/relevance, creationist reasoning, evolutionary misconceptions, and exposure to evolution. A significant and notable increase in evolution knowledge/relevance, as well as decrease in creationist reasoning and evolutionary misconceptions was observed for the evolutionary psychology course. In contrast, no significant change in evolution knowledge/relevance was observed for the biology course. The implications of these findings, as well as limitations and future research for evolution education are discussed. |
