The relationship between understanding of the evolution and the levels of scientific literacy of students in secondary school (the case of Malatya)

Two basic paradigms of science and biology education: are scientific literacy and the evolution. In Turkey and around the world, calls for educational reform stress the need for a scientifically literate population, prepared for the twenty-first century workforce. Evolution is all around us. It is a truism that evolutionary theory lies at the heart of life sciences. Scientific literacy which faces possible life issues and associated with personal, social, political and economic challenges, scientific and logical thinking is a skill required today. A thorough understanding of evolutionary theory is a prerequisite for being able to participate in debates on diverse biological themes, as well as on a range of societal problems related to the biological domain.However, one of the great paradoxes of our time is that the more science and evolution influences our lives, the less we understand them.The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between levels of scientific literacy and understanding of the evolution of 12th grades students in different secondary education institutions in centre of Malatya province. The study was conducted during the second semester of 2010?2011 academic year. The study was conducted on 1447 (821 female and 626 male) students from Anatolian, Science, Vocational, Art, Private and General high schools. In order to assess the views of participants on scientific literacy and evolution, a survey was developed which consist of 28 items. Indepentent variables are gender, school type, area type, families? income, parents? education level, parents? profession, follow-up on the magazine, the time of study, and reading etc. The data collected and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 were discussed and interpreted. In data analysis, frequency, mean, standard deviation values and Pearson correlation independent samples, t test and ANOVA statistics were used.Study results revealed a statistically significant (p<0,01) differences for variables including gender, school type, area type, families? income, parents education level, mother?s profession, follow-up on the magazine and the time of study on scientific literacy, and between gender, school type, area type on understand the theory of evolution. Participans mean scores for scientific literacy and understanding the theory evolution were found 3,57 and 2,92 respectively. Between students?literacy and understanding the evolution, it was found that there was a significant but negative correlation in term of general and school types.Finally, teaching about evolution and the nature of scientific inquiry is a must which contributes to scientific literacy of future citizens.