February 12 was Darwin Day, and so accordingly, we in the Evolutionary Studies Student Association took it upon ourselves to find out what Binghamton University students actually know about evolution and where they stand on a number of questions regarding science, religion and philosophy. To do so, we prepared a 10-question survey asking an array of questions on the topic. We polled 100 students in the Marketplace throughout the previous week, as well as an additional 67 students enrolled in the course, BIOL 451: Current Topics in EvoS. Some of the questions used were also polled nationally in a National Center for Science Education survey conducted in 2010. The results of our survey are reported here.

BU is a modern public university: Home to both cutting edge scientific research and also a culturally diverse student body with dozens of religious groups. In our responses, we found that the influence that students’ religion/faith played in forming their worldview varied greatly. Thus, many students from religious backgrounds are forced to reconcile the beliefs they were taught in their childhood with the modern scientific perspective about the origins of life and the universe. Still, regardless of religious background it is clear that almost all students recognized the importance of evolutionary science in the modern academic setting. Nearly 95 percent of the students polled in the Union agreed that the theory of evolution plays an important role in studying a wide array of scientific disciplines. Similarly, 97 percent believe that schools should be required to include evolution in their education about life on earth, although 38 percent said creationism/intelligent design should be included as well.

However, some responses demonstrated a hesitation to accept the overwhelming scientific consensus supporting human evolution. Only 58 percent of the BU students polled indicated that the only way to know what happened in the past is via eyewitness record is false. Not only has science proven how unreliable eyewitness testimony can be, but the fields of anthropology, physics, biology, astronomy, etc., could not exist if they solely relied on eyewitness accounts as evidence. Additionally, a mere 51 percent of respondents in the Union responded false to the statement, “evolution proposes missing links and does not have strong factual evidence to support it.” Though students in the EvoS seminar answered false more often to both questions, we would hope that it should not take enrolling in advanced biology courses for college students to recognize the massive amount of factual evidence that exists to support evolutionary theory.

Interestingly, BU students and especially EvoS seminar students were far less likely to attribute human existence and the fundamental laws of nature to a supernatural or guiding force, compared to the national average. Binghamton students were also less likely to think that all people are descendants of Adam and Eve; however, this belief is still found in a large portion of the student population. Though it is objectively wrong to consider these the correct answers, it is certainly encouraging from a scientific standpoint.

While it is seemingly evident that quite a large number of BU students hold a variety of misconceptions regarding evolution and the nature of science in general, it is promising that BU students quite heavily outperform the national average, and that certain courses seem to encourage a better understanding of these concepts.

The EvoS SA would like to thank all of the students who participated in this study, as well as those helped distribute surveys and analyze results. For more information on the EvoS SA, please contact evolutionarystudies@binghamtonsa.org.