Teachers who teach evolution whether at the K-12 or college level face a number of challenges. One set of challenges comes from misunderstandings about evolution or the nature of science. For example, students may have difficulty in understanding basic concepts such as speciation or in grasping the immense scale of geological time. Another set of challenges comes from "outside" of science, that is, from creationist efforts to weaken (or even block) the teaching of evolution.
The Science and Evolution section features resources to help teachers help students overcome common obstacles to understanding evolution. The most common obstacles fall into three main categories.
- Misunderstandings about the nature of science
- Inadequate grasp of basic biological facts, concepts and principles related to evolution
- Resistance stemming from perceptions of social and religious controversy about evolution
The section Anti-evolutionism provides resources for handling some of the creationist challenges to evolution that teachers are currently facing.