Evolutionary theory is the theoretical foundation of contemporary biological anthropology, but Alabama K-12 students have the worst access to evolution education on average than children from any other US State. Therefore, I made it an emphasis of my teaching and research at UA to address a need that I was uniquely situated to fill. I had been part of the program and executive committees, respectively, for the founding of the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society and the SUNY New Paltz Evolutionary Studies (EvoS) program. So, I started a similar program at UA when I arrived, which I also directed when it was housed in Anthropology (it's now in Geology). I built the EvoS program around UA's evolution speaker series, called ALabama LEctures on Life's Evolution (ALLELE), for which I was the steering committee chair several years running. EvoS minors complete a senior thesis related to their major that draws on evolutionary theory, and I am usually the project mentor and advisor for Anthropology majors who are EvoS minors. Thus, our lab has collaborated in a number of evolution-oriented studies, but we have also been actively involved in hosting ALLELE speakers, held Darwin Day events, and founded scholarly organizations and hosted conferences (Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives Society).
Following are projects and publications related to this area of emphasis in my lab.
Following are projects and publications related to this area of emphasis in my lab.
KN Spaulding, RL Burch, CD Lynn. Evolutionary Studies’ Reproductive Successes and Failures: Knowing the Institutional Ecology. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 2014, 6(1):18-38, http://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Spaulding-Burch-Lynn_Vol6Iss1.pdf.
This paper was a by-product of attending the 2013 EvoS Summit in New Paltz, NY. The EvoS approach was developed by biologist David Sloan Wilson at Binghamton University. Glenn Geher at SUNY New Paltz followed suit there, and the two of them obtained a National Science Foundation grant to seed an EvoS Consortium. The Summit was a way for various EvoS initiatives to compare notes. Kristina Spaulding and Becky Burch gave talks on their unsuccessful efforts to start EvoS programs at the University at Albany and SUNY Plattsburg, respectively. We compared notes on how Alabama had succeeded in starting an EvoS program, and, when a special issue of EvoS Journal was planned from the Summit, I was asked to contribute to this paper about the factors that can influence success or failure in starting and maintaining programs.
This paper was a by-product of attending the 2013 EvoS Summit in New Paltz, NY. The EvoS approach was developed by biologist David Sloan Wilson at Binghamton University. Glenn Geher at SUNY New Paltz followed suit there, and the two of them obtained a National Science Foundation grant to seed an EvoS Consortium. The Summit was a way for various EvoS initiatives to compare notes. Kristina Spaulding and Becky Burch gave talks on their unsuccessful efforts to start EvoS programs at the University at Albany and SUNY Plattsburg, respectively. We compared notes on how Alabama had succeeded in starting an EvoS program, and, when a special issue of EvoS Journal was planned from the Summit, I was asked to contribute to this paper about the factors that can influence success or failure in starting and maintaining programs.
CD Lynn, MJ Stein*, APC Bishop*. Engaging undergraduates through neuroanthropological research. Anthropology Now, 2014, 6(1):92-103.
I was invited by Daniel Lende and Greg Downey to be part of a neuroanthropology session at the 2012 AAA conference in San Francisco. I said yes because I wanted to go to San Francisco, but I didn't have any new research to present I that I thought would fit. Instead, I presented on the strategy by which I train undergraduates in the principles of neuroanthropology via multiple concurrent team projects. With some notable exceptions, good neuroscience research is lab-based work with expensive equipment, while good ethnography entails extended periods of cultural immersion, both of which are difficult trainings to provide undergraduates. Following the principles of interdisciplinary education, my objectives are to expose students to theory and method in neuroanthropology, not produce mastery in the subject, provide a stable and tangible space for cohort rapport to develop, and engage in experiential activities, not merely rote learning or discussion. And I heard good advice somewhere (UA Emeritus Professor Jim Knight, I think): Never let a presentation paper go to waste--always turn it into a publication, and keep revising and sending it out till it gets published. If you're a competent enough writer, some journal will ultimately be satisfied with how you address reviews and accept it. I had taken Max Stein and Andrew Bishop with me to the field the previous summer, so I asked them to co-author the article with me, providing undergraduate and graduate perspectives to my faculty one on how our lab runs. We essentially reifed the workflow of the lab, because the process of writing this article introduced me to UA Education Professor Karri Holley, whose expertise includes interdisciplinary programs in higher education and diversity in higher education. Drawing largely on her work, we described how to create an interdisciplinary undergraduate lab specializing in neuroanthropology.
I was invited by Daniel Lende and Greg Downey to be part of a neuroanthropology session at the 2012 AAA conference in San Francisco. I said yes because I wanted to go to San Francisco, but I didn't have any new research to present I that I thought would fit. Instead, I presented on the strategy by which I train undergraduates in the principles of neuroanthropology via multiple concurrent team projects. With some notable exceptions, good neuroscience research is lab-based work with expensive equipment, while good ethnography entails extended periods of cultural immersion, both of which are difficult trainings to provide undergraduates. Following the principles of interdisciplinary education, my objectives are to expose students to theory and method in neuroanthropology, not produce mastery in the subject, provide a stable and tangible space for cohort rapport to develop, and engage in experiential activities, not merely rote learning or discussion. And I heard good advice somewhere (UA Emeritus Professor Jim Knight, I think): Never let a presentation paper go to waste--always turn it into a publication, and keep revising and sending it out till it gets published. If you're a competent enough writer, some journal will ultimately be satisfied with how you address reviews and accept it. I had taken Max Stein and Andrew Bishop with me to the field the previous summer, so I asked them to co-author the article with me, providing undergraduate and graduate perspectives to my faculty one on how our lab runs. We essentially reifed the workflow of the lab, because the process of writing this article introduced me to UA Education Professor Karri Holley, whose expertise includes interdisciplinary programs in higher education and diversity in higher education. Drawing largely on her work, we described how to create an interdisciplinary undergraduate lab specializing in neuroanthropology.
H James, Y Manresa, R Metts, B Brinkman, and CD Lynn. The Effects of Performance-Based Education on Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy. EvoS Journal, 2015, 7(1):44-57. http://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/James_Vol7Iss1.pdf.
This project began via an ALLELE performance by hip hop artist and playwright Baba Brinkman. He mentioned a collaboration he was engaged in to study the efficacy of his education approach and how they wanted to target low evolution literacy areas. I suggested they target Alabama and use EvoS student to conduct the study. Initially, Brinkman shared Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Surveys (EALS) administered in pretest, posttest, and retention iterations to high school-level biology and nursing students in the UK in conjunction with a “Rap Guide to Evolution” performance there. For their EvoS project, Hillarie James, Yanet Manresa, and Rob Metts analyzed the data and wrote it up for publication. However, we wanted to see if attendees paid attention and if it made a difference if the material was exciting or angered people. We hypothesized that strong emotion would increase memory retention, regardless of the valence of the emotion. Juliann Friel led the HBERG team testing this by conducting a study that, again, measured pre- and posttest knowledge of and attitudes toward evolution using the EALS but included a measure of skin conductance to gauge emotional salience. Emotional valence was determined via posttest comments by participants about the experience. We hypothesized that the funny and musical presentation of Baba Brinkman would result in more positive change in knowledge and attitudes relative to a traditional lecture. Participants were randomized into groups that either watched a video of Baba Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Evolution” or a video of Jerry Coyne give his “Why Evolution is True” talk. In brief, we found that emotion did matter, but negative valence caused participants to notice more of what they didn’t like and pick up more misconceptions.
This project began via an ALLELE performance by hip hop artist and playwright Baba Brinkman. He mentioned a collaboration he was engaged in to study the efficacy of his education approach and how they wanted to target low evolution literacy areas. I suggested they target Alabama and use EvoS student to conduct the study. Initially, Brinkman shared Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Surveys (EALS) administered in pretest, posttest, and retention iterations to high school-level biology and nursing students in the UK in conjunction with a “Rap Guide to Evolution” performance there. For their EvoS project, Hillarie James, Yanet Manresa, and Rob Metts analyzed the data and wrote it up for publication. However, we wanted to see if attendees paid attention and if it made a difference if the material was exciting or angered people. We hypothesized that strong emotion would increase memory retention, regardless of the valence of the emotion. Juliann Friel led the HBERG team testing this by conducting a study that, again, measured pre- and posttest knowledge of and attitudes toward evolution using the EALS but included a measure of skin conductance to gauge emotional salience. Emotional valence was determined via posttest comments by participants about the experience. We hypothesized that the funny and musical presentation of Baba Brinkman would result in more positive change in knowledge and attitudes relative to a traditional lecture. Participants were randomized into groups that either watched a video of Baba Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Evolution” or a video of Jerry Coyne give his “Why Evolution is True” talk. In brief, we found that emotion did matter, but negative valence caused participants to notice more of what they didn’t like and pick up more misconceptions.
MJ Stein*, A Daugherty*, I Rivera*, J Muzzo*, CD Lynn. Thinking outside anthropology’s box: Socializing undergraduates through collaborative research, teaching, and service. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 2016, 40(2):164-177. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/napa.12099/full.
We were invited to contribute to a special issue of AAP on experiental teaching/learning in anthropology by friends/colleagues and UA grads Drs. Toni Copeland and Francois Dengah. Max Stein (then a graduate student, now Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Florida Gulf Coast University) led this description of our lab's theoretical and procedural approaches. For this project, we trained undergraduates Ashley Daugherty, Isabella Rivera, and Jessica Muzzo in evolutionary multi-level selection theory and cognitive science as research assistants in local church ethnographies and neuroscience methods adapted from social psychology and media studies.
We were invited to contribute to a special issue of AAP on experiental teaching/learning in anthropology by friends/colleagues and UA grads Drs. Toni Copeland and Francois Dengah. Max Stein (then a graduate student, now Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Florida Gulf Coast University) led this description of our lab's theoretical and procedural approaches. For this project, we trained undergraduates Ashley Daugherty, Isabella Rivera, and Jessica Muzzo in evolutionary multi-level selection theory and cognitive science as research assistants in local church ethnographies and neuroscience methods adapted from social psychology and media studies.
ME Howells, C Ocobock, C Lynn, CA Jost Robinson, K Woolard*. It’s a dead man’s party: Integrative evolutionary education through Darwin Day. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 2017, 7(1):58-87. http://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Howells-et-al_Vol7Iss1.pdf.
At the 2nd annual Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives meeting we hosted at UA, I was sitting around with my co-authors on this paper, Michaela Howells, Cara Ocobock, Carolyn Jost Robinson, and Kate Woolard trying to come up with an idea for a paper we could all write together. Michaela, Carolyn, and Kate had hosted several very successful Darwin Day events at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and I think they suggested the topic since Cara and I had hosted similar events in different contexts. We provide some best practices advice and resources in this paper.
At the 2nd annual Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives meeting we hosted at UA, I was sitting around with my co-authors on this paper, Michaela Howells, Cara Ocobock, Carolyn Jost Robinson, and Kate Woolard trying to come up with an idea for a paper we could all write together. Michaela, Carolyn, and Kate had hosted several very successful Darwin Day events at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and I think they suggested the topic since Cara and I had hosted similar events in different contexts. We provide some best practices advice and resources in this paper.
CD Lynn, A Glaze, W Evans, and L Reed (eds). Evolution Education in the American South: Culture, Politics, and Resources in and around Alabama. 2017. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-349-95139-
This book developed because I was the Chair of the Evolution Working Group (an ad hoc group of interdisciplinary evolution scholars at UA), which hosts the ALLELE (ALabama LEctures on Life's Evolution) speaker series, and Director of the EvoS program at UA. I had talked to an editor friend at UA Press about putting together an edited volume about the ALLELE series, and they recommended we consider a theme more compelling than a collection of evolution works by people who'd visited Tuscaloosa. Previous Working Group Chair Leslie Rissler had done a study at UA indicating that the predisposition to take a course on evolution or not in college is largely influenced during secondary education, so we thought perhaps our goal should be to develop a resource for K-12 teachers and students. Thus, we could draw on the writings of 10 years' worth of ALLELE and three years of EvoS speakers and our own expertise in the Evolution Working Group. Fellow Working Group members Bill Evans and Laura Reed volunteered to collaborate with me in putting a volume together and contributing pieces. I met Amanda Glaze via Twitter when we were hosting a Darwin Day event at UA. She had done a PhD in Education at UA focusing on attitudes toward evolution among pre-service science teachers in the US Southwest, but we were somehow all never put in touch with or found out about each other. Amanda's work speaks directly to the goals we had for the volume, so we invited her to collaborate on it and contribute. Amanda arranged the deal with Palgrave Macmillan, was the primary liaison with the publisher, and solicited three chapters from authors who had never visited Tuscaloosa when original authors dropped out of the project (I managed to get one of the authors, Prosanta Chakrabarty, to come later to promote the book). I contacted most of the authors and made arrangements with them. Bill and Laura helped organize and edit the book. It's organized with sections on the history of evolution education in the US South, studies of evolution acceptance and anti-evolution rhetoric in the region, and resources for teaching young people about evolution using the resources around them in the US Southeast.
This book developed because I was the Chair of the Evolution Working Group (an ad hoc group of interdisciplinary evolution scholars at UA), which hosts the ALLELE (ALabama LEctures on Life's Evolution) speaker series, and Director of the EvoS program at UA. I had talked to an editor friend at UA Press about putting together an edited volume about the ALLELE series, and they recommended we consider a theme more compelling than a collection of evolution works by people who'd visited Tuscaloosa. Previous Working Group Chair Leslie Rissler had done a study at UA indicating that the predisposition to take a course on evolution or not in college is largely influenced during secondary education, so we thought perhaps our goal should be to develop a resource for K-12 teachers and students. Thus, we could draw on the writings of 10 years' worth of ALLELE and three years of EvoS speakers and our own expertise in the Evolution Working Group. Fellow Working Group members Bill Evans and Laura Reed volunteered to collaborate with me in putting a volume together and contributing pieces. I met Amanda Glaze via Twitter when we were hosting a Darwin Day event at UA. She had done a PhD in Education at UA focusing on attitudes toward evolution among pre-service science teachers in the US Southwest, but we were somehow all never put in touch with or found out about each other. Amanda's work speaks directly to the goals we had for the volume, so we invited her to collaborate on it and contribute. Amanda arranged the deal with Palgrave Macmillan, was the primary liaison with the publisher, and solicited three chapters from authors who had never visited Tuscaloosa when original authors dropped out of the project (I managed to get one of the authors, Prosanta Chakrabarty, to come later to promote the book). I contacted most of the authors and made arrangements with them. Bill and Laura helped organize and edit the book. It's organized with sections on the history of evolution education in the US South, studies of evolution acceptance and anti-evolution rhetoric in the region, and resources for teaching young people about evolution using the resources around them in the US Southeast.
CD Lynn, A Guitar*, CMT Keck, AL Rector. Applied evolutionary education: The benefits and costs of hosting regional evolution conferences. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2020, 13(7), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-020-00121-z.
I was at a MidAtlantic Bioanthropology Interest Group (MABIG) conference event hosted by Amy Rector at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and we were brainstorming a paper we could write together. She is a paleoanthropologist working in the Afar region of Africa, and I am a human biologist working in the South Pacific. But we both host regional evolution-themed conferences. Amy had hosted MABIG several times. I had hosted the Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives Society conference at UA two times. So we started a paper idea that took many years to come to fruition. I brought Mandy in on the project when she started as a doctoral student at UA. Mandy had hosted a NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS) conference as a grad student at Binghamton University. Whereas I was a tenured male professor when I hosted a conference, and Amy is a female and was an assistant professor when she started hosting, Mandy was a female grad student. We provide a timeline for steps to organize a regional evolution conference and discuss the pros and cons for various levels and types of precarity within academia. HBERG undergrad and EvoS minor Chloe Keck was brought in to help us address paper revisions because she was advanced enough in the program to be helpful doing advanced theoretical integration and editing of other peoples' combined writings. It's no surprise she was snatched up for graduate school in evolutionary biology!
I was at a MidAtlantic Bioanthropology Interest Group (MABIG) conference event hosted by Amy Rector at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and we were brainstorming a paper we could write together. She is a paleoanthropologist working in the Afar region of Africa, and I am a human biologist working in the South Pacific. But we both host regional evolution-themed conferences. Amy had hosted MABIG several times. I had hosted the Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives Society conference at UA two times. So we started a paper idea that took many years to come to fruition. I brought Mandy in on the project when she started as a doctoral student at UA. Mandy had hosted a NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS) conference as a grad student at Binghamton University. Whereas I was a tenured male professor when I hosted a conference, and Amy is a female and was an assistant professor when she started hosting, Mandy was a female grad student. We provide a timeline for steps to organize a regional evolution conference and discuss the pros and cons for various levels and types of precarity within academia. HBERG undergrad and EvoS minor Chloe Keck was brought in to help us address paper revisions because she was advanced enough in the program to be helpful doing advanced theoretical integration and editing of other peoples' combined writings. It's no surprise she was snatched up for graduate school in evolutionary biology!
