Meeting Abstract

P3.88  Saturday, Jan. 5  Teaching Evolution: Historical Perspectives on 19^th and 20^th Century Biology BATCH, R. A.*; COUGHLIN, D. J.; Widener University, History, Chester, PA; Widener University, Biology, Chester, PA djcoughlin@widener.edu

Darwinian evolution remains both misunderstood and a source of societal strife. We taught an interdisciplinary seminar on Darwinian evolutionary theory as the foundation of modern biology and on the misapplication of that theory to many elements of American culture. One of us (DC) has taught biology courses on evolutionary theory and the history of alternatives to the Theory of Natural Selection. The other (RB) has expertise on American social and cultural history in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. In our course, we explored the tenets of natural selection and provided the context of its development from the 1830�s until its publication in the 1860�s. The societal impact of this theory was then investigated in a series of thematic units on racial discrimination and eugenics, constructions of gender and politics of reproduction, immigration restriction and the manufacturing of race, and the struggle for acceptance of natural selection across professional, lay, and religious groups. Through the use of both primary and secondary historical sources, our students confronted misconceptions about evolution and examined how this theory has been and continues to be used towards unfortunate ends. We present our course structure and an evaluation of our realization of course objectives.