Natural History Museum Visitors' Understanding of Evolution

• DOI: 10.1641/b571010
• Publication Date: 2007-11-16T00:37:26Z
• Authors: Bruce J. MacFadden; Betty A. Dunckel; Shari Ellis; Lynn D. Dierking; Linda Abraham-Silver; Jim Kisiel; Judy Koke
• Keywords: Microevolution

Natural history museums are the principal repositories of collections that represent much objective evidence for evolution. With approximately 50 million visitors annually, US natural can significantly influence public's understanding Here we present results a study investigated knowledge key evolutionary concepts exhibited by high-school students and adults who visited museums. Ninety-five percent participants understood relative geological time (superposition), but only 30 explained biological change (microevolution) in terms selection, 11 explicitly rejected In general, museum have an incomplete concepts. For example, while good fossils evolution, they poor mechanisms foster visitors' evolution integrating this content—particularly difficult to understand—throughout all relevant exhibits public programs.