Lucy Delaney

about my work

Evolutionary theory not only puts the facts of biology into context and helps us integrate knowledge from disparate biological subdisciplines, but it also moves the entire science from an exercise of memorizing detail after detail to a profound exploration of what it means to be alive. The forces of evolution allow us to understand why living organisms appear as they do. Yet despite the centrality of evolution to the study of biology, decades of research demonstrate that evolutionary theory remains poorly understood among students and the general public.

A major goal of my work is determining methods that may improve conceptual understanding of evolutionary theory, in an effort to improve the teaching and learning of biological sciences more broadly. In practice, I am interested in the application of evolutionary theory in constructing a cohesive narrative in our classrooms—so that we may move away from rote fact memorization and tell our students a compelling story that places biological facts into context.