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Evolution Korea The financial crisis that hit Asia led to a major rethinking of the old system of government and business alliances, and public management of risks. In Korea this required a change in the development paradigm. In a controversial move, South Korea's government has asked textbook publishers to ignore calls to eliminate examples of evolution from high school science books. This includes evidence for the evolution of horses and the bird ancestral Archaeopteryx. 1. Evolution and Religion A South Korean creationist group has convinced 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 wants to rid biology textbooks of “atheist materialism,” was behind the move. The STR claims that this kind of materialistic thinking creates a negative picture for students and leads to their eventual denial of faith. When the STR's ad campaign made the news, scientists around the world expressed concern. Jae Choe, evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul and wrote an email to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. 에볼루션 게이밍 was backed by colleagues across 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 expand to other parts of the globe, where the belief in creationism has been growing. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolution movement could increase pressure for textbook revisions in other countries, especially those with large Christian and Muslim populations. South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the evolution debate. 26 percent of South Koreans are members of a religion and the majority of them practice Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also follow Ch'ondogyo, the philosophy based on Confucian principles, which emphasizes harmony in the social, personal self-cultivation and self-respect. Ch'ondogyo believes that humans are one with Hanulnim, the God of the Sun, and that the heavenly blessings can be obtained through good works. All of this has provided an ideal environment for the spread of creationism. Numerous studies have found that students who have a religious background to be more reluctant to learn about evolution than those who don't. The reasons behind this aren't clear. Students who are religious may be less knowledgeable about scientific theories, making them more susceptible to the creationists influence. Another possible factor is that students who have religious beliefs tend to view evolution as an atheistic idea which could make them less at ease with it. 2. Evolution and Science In recent years, scientists have been concerned about the anti-evolution agenda in schools. A 2009 survey revealed that more than 40% of Americans believe that biological evolution is not true and that a belief in it could be in conflict with their faith-based beliefs. Many scientists believe that despite the success of creationism, the best way to combat this movement is to educate the public about the evidence supporting evolution. Scientists are accountable to instruct their students in science, which includes the theory of evolution. They should also inform the public about the process of scientific research and the way in which knowledge is verified. They must explain how theories of science are frequently challenged and changed. However, misconceptions about nature and purpose of scientific research can lead to a negative view of evolution. Many people mistake the term “theory” as a hunch or guess. In science, however, a hypothesis is rigorously tested, and empirical data is used to confirm it. A theory that is able to withstand repeated testing and observation becomes a scientific concept. The debate over the theory of evolution is a wonderful occasion to discuss both 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 meaning or meaning of life, but it is merely a means that allows living things to grow and change. Moreover, a well-rounded education should include exposure to all the major scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is essential because a variety of jobs and choices require individuals understand the way science operates. The vast majority scientists in the world agree that humans have evolved through time. In a recent study that predicted the opinions of adults about the consensus around this issue people with higher levels of education and scientific knowledge were found to be more likely believe that there is a broad consensus among scientists on human evolution. The people with more religious beliefs and have less science knowledge tend to be more skeptical. It is important that educators emphasize the importance of gaining an understanding of this consensus, so that people can make informed choices about health care, energy usage, and other policy matters. 3. Evolution and Culture A close relative to the popular evolutionary theory, the concept of cultural evolution focuses on the various ways that humans and other species learn from and interact with one another. Researchers in this field use explanation models and tools adapted from those used by evolutionary theorists, and they look back to human prehistory to determine the origins of our capacity to learn about culture. This method also acknowledges the distinction between traits that are cultural and biological. Cultural traits can be acquired gradually, whereas biological traits are mostly inherited simultaneously (in sexual species at fertilization). As a result, the emergence of one cultural trait may affect the development of another. In Korea, the adoption of Western styles in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the result an elaborate sequence of events. One of the most important was the appearance in Korea of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western clothing and hairstyles. After that, when Japan departed Korea in the 1930s, a portion of these trends began to change. At the end of World War II, Korea was united once more and again under Choson dynasty rule. Today, Korea is a vibrant economic and political power. Despite the recent financial crisis the economy of Korea has been growing consistently over the last decade. It is anticipated to continue to grow in the near future. However, the current administration is facing a variety of challenges. The government's inability to formulate an effective strategy to deal with the current economic crisis is among the biggest challenges. The crisis has exposed shortcomings in the policies of the country, especially its over-reliance on foreign investment and exports that may not last. The crisis has shaken the confidence of investors. As a result, the government has to reconsider its approach and find other ways to increase domestic demand. To ensure a stable and stable financial environment the government needs to reform its incentive, monitoring and discipline systems. This chapter provides a number of scenarios of how the Korean economy could develop post-crisis. 4. Evolution and Education The challenge for teachers of evolution lies in how to teach evolutionary concepts that are appropriate for various ages and stages of development. For instance, teachers need to be sensitive to the religious diversity in their classrooms and create a setting that students who have secular and religious views are comfortable with learning about evolution. Additionally, teachers must be aware of common misconceptions about evolution and how to address these in their classrooms. Finally, teachers must be able to access a range of resources available for teaching evolution and be able to find them quickly. In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation had a key role in bringing together evolutionary researchers and educators from different sectors to discuss best methods for teaching Evolution. Attendees included representatives of scientific societies, educational researchers, officials from government funding agencies, and curriculum developers. The convergence of diverse participants helped to identify some common guidelines that will serve as the basis for any future actions. A key recommendation is that the subject of evolution should be incorporated in all science curricula at any 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 achieve this goal. A new publication from the NRC provides guidance to schools on how they can integrate evolution into the science curriculum. Several studies have found that a more thorough teaching of evolution is linked to more knowledge and belief in the existence of evolution. However the estimation of the causal effect of evolution in the classroom is a challenge due to the fact that school curriculums are not randomly assigned and evolve over time as a result of the predetermined timeframe of gubernatorial elections as well as appointments to the state board of education. To overcome this issue, I use a longitudinal data set that lets me control for state and year fixed effects as well as individual-level variations in teacher beliefs about changes in the curriculum. Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution also report fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the notion that faculty who are more confident are less likely to avoid teaching about evolution in the classroom, and could be more likely to employ strategies such as the reconciliatory method known to increase the students' understanding of evolution.