Thesis ID: CBB001567386

Science for Survival: The Modern Synthesis of Evolution and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (2012)

unapi

Green, Lisa Anne (Author)


Echeverria, Begona
University of California, Riverside
Echeverria, Begona
Wills, John S.
Nash, Margaret


Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Advisor: Nash, Margaret; Committee Members: Echeverria, Begona, Wills, John S.
Physical Details: 259 pp.
Language: English

In this historical dissertation, I examined the process of curriculum development in the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) in the United States during the period 1959-1963. The presentation of evolution in the high school texts was based on a more robust form of Darwinian evolution which developed during the 1930s and 1940s called "the modern synthesis of evolution." Building primarily on the work of historians Vassiliki Smocovitis and John L. Rudolph, I used the archival papers and published writings of the four architects of the modern synthesis and the four most influential leaders of the BSCS in regards to evolution to investigate how the modern synthetic theory of evolution shaped the BSCS curriculum. The central question was "Why was evolution so important to the BSCS to make it the central theme of the texts?" Important answers to this question had already been offered in the historiography, but it was still not clear why every citizen in the world needed to understand evolution. I found that the emphasis on natural selection in the modern synthesis shifted the focus away from humans as passive participants to the recognition that humans are active agents in their own cultural and biological evolution. This required re-education of the world citizenry, which was accomplished in part by the BSCS textbooks. I also found that BSCS leaders Grobman, Glass, and Muller had serious concerns regarding the effects of nuclear radiation on the human gene pool, and were actively involved in informing th public. Lastly, I found that concerns of 1950s reform eugenicists were addressed in the BSCS textbooks, without mentioning eugenics by name. I suggest that the leaders of the BSCS, especially Bentley Glass and Hermann J. Muller, thought that students needed to understand genetics and evolution to be able to make some of the tough choices they might be called on to make as the dominant species on earth and the next reproductive generation in the nuclear age. This was science for survival.

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Description Cited in Dissertation Abstracts International-A 74/05(E), Nov 2013. Proquest Document ID: 1286749953.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001567386/

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Authors & Contributors
Wolfe, Audra Jayne
Shapiro, Adam R.
Ruse, Michael
Wilkins, Adam
Kruse, Jerrid W.
Ishida, Yoichi
Concepts
Evolution
Genetics
Biology
Natural selection
Modern Synthesis (biology)
Textbooks
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
20th century, early
19th century
18th century
Places
United States
St. Petersburg (Russia)
Russia
Europe
Soviet Union
Great Britain
Institutions
Genetics Society of America
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