Frequently, people assume that the difficulties that arise when teaching and learning about evolution are due to the religious questions and possible conflicts that evolutionary theory raises. Our project provides extensive evidence that, while religious concerns do play a role, they touch upon only a fraction of the obstacles that educators and learners face. Through the Evolution Challenges project, we brought together collaborators from many disciplines to provide a fuller accounting of why evolutionary theory is so challenging to educators and learners.
In this brief summary, we will provide an overview of the project's findings. More information can be found on the pages of the contributors and a full account is provided in the edited book published by Oxford University Press.