Communicating Darwin's ideas

Desiree Scicluna Bugeja, education officer for biology at the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, recently attended a five-day seminar entitled Communicating Darwin's Ideas: Richness and Opportunity, held in York, UK.

The seminar focused on the teaching of evolution in formal education, the challenges offered by differing social and cultural contexts, communicating natural selection in informal learning environments, and the role of evidence in teaching natural selection.

The event was part of the international programme of activities marking the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.

It was organised by the British Council in collaboration with the University of York's National Science Learning Centre and the London Natural History Museum, with the support of the Wellcome Trust.