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Dustin Eirdosh

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Education innovation coordinator

Postdoctoral researcher
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology 
Deutscher Platz 6 
D-04103 Leipzig 
Germany

phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 410
email: dustin_eirdosh@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

 

Research Interests

  • Interdisciplinary education
    • Evolution education
    • Psychological / Social-Emotional Learning
    • Learning about Machine Learning and Artifical Intelligences
    • Sustainability education
       
  • Teaching for transfer of learning and conceptual understanding
    • How can students develop deeper understandings of (arguably) generalizable concepts relevant to evolution, behavior, and sustainability sciences?
    • e.g.  adaptation, agency, behavior, cognition, cooperation, culture, design, development, evolution, goal, information, intelligence, learning, system, sustainability, theory
       
  • Community science for understanding and improving school cultures
    • How can students can become empowered as researchers and co-designers of meaningful school improvements through conceptual learning and participatory open science methods?
       
  • Teacher education and development
    • How can pre-service and in-service teachers become empowered as researchers and co-designers within the frame of our Educational Design Concept?

OpenEvo Learning and Research Hubs

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My primary focus is the development of OpenEvo as an interdisciplinary platform for teaching, learning, and educational design research at the intersection of evolution, behavior, and sustainability science. 

Interdisciplinary evolution education research with the Biology Education group at FSU Jena

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Our foundations in biology education provide a base for interdisciplinary explorations and understandings of human behavior, cognition, and culture. Research cooperation with the AG Biologiedidaktik (Biology education working group) in Jena provides a dynamic space for innovation development and testing of our educational design concept. 

Thesis work and research context

Focus of PhD (defended January 19th, 2022)
Teaching Evolution as an Interdisciplinary Science
Concepts, Theories, and Network Infrastructure for Educational Design Research

Advancing evolutionary theory in the 21st century is a robustly interdisciplinary, if not transdisciplinary scientific endeavor. From biology and anthropology, to medicine, psychology, economics, sustainability science, computer science, and many more, the core concepts of heritable variation and selection have been utilized by scientists across academia to understand the natural and social world. Evolution education, however, remains largely a disciplinary endeavor of biology education, and educators are left with little guidance on interpreting the broader interdisciplinary applications of modern evolution science discourse. In fact, current representations of evolutionary concepts in evolution education may prove challenging for the integration of newer and interdisciplinary perspectives on evolution. This thesis engages a design-based research perspective on the systems, practices, and resources that could support or hinder the emergence of teaching evolution as the interdisciplinary science that it is. 

Projects and Partners

I am the coordinator of the educational development, outreach, and research coordination efforts of our department. 

More here...

www.GlobalESD.org

Together with Dr. Susan Hanisch, I am a co-founder of the US-based non-profit organization, Global ESD (Education for Sustainable Development). Global ESD works internationally to support sustainability education initiatives that connect concepts in human evolution, behavioral ecology, and sustainability science. By linking scientific perspectives on social change with students and classrooms seeking to make the world a better place, our aim is to foster a more global discussion about where we are going in the light of where we all have come from. 

www.EvoLeipzig.de (in German)

EvoLeipzig is a place-based initiative working to bring the Global ESD design concept to schools and education partners in Leipzig.

Publications

Bachmann, M. E., Kulik, L., Gatiso, T., Nielsen, M. R., Haase, D., Heurich, M., Buchadas, A., Bösch, L., Eirdosh, D., Freytag, A., Geldmann, J., Ghoddousi, A., Hicks, T. C., Ordaz-Németh, I., Qin, S., Sop, T., van Beeck Calkoen, S., Wesche, K., & Kühl, H. S. (2022). Analysis of differences and commonalities in wildlife hunting across the Africa-Europe South-North gradient. PLoS Biology, 20: e3001707.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Gatiso, T. T., Kulik, L., Bachmann, M. E., Bonn, A., Bösch, L., Eirdosh, D., Freytag, A., Hanisch, S., Heurich, M., Sop, T., Wesche, K., Winter, M., & Kühl, H. S. (2022). Effectiveness of protected areas influenced by socio-economic context. Nature Sustainability.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2022). Cooperation as a causal factor in human evolution: a scientific clarification and analysis of German high school biology textbooks. Journal of Biological Education, 1-25.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2021). Are humans a cooperative species? Challenges & opportunities for teaching the evolution of human prosociality. The American Biology Teacher, 83(6), 356-361.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., Eirdosh, D., Schaefer, M., & Haun, D. B. M. (2021). What is “fair” is not the same everywhere. Frontiers for Young Minds, 9: 580435.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2021). Evolving Schools in a Post-pandemic Context. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.), COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World (pp. 465-480). Springer.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2021). Opportunities and challenges in qualitative data synthesis for school culture research. Talk presented at Workshop "Human Research Data in Practice". Munich. 2021-04-20 - 2021-04-20.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2021). The music and social bonding hypothesis does require multilevel selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44: e69.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2021). Causal mapping as a teaching tool for reflecting on causation in human evolution. Science & Education, 30, 993-1022.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2020). Can the science of Prosocial be a part of evolution education? Evolution: Education and Outreach, 13: 5.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2020). Conceptual clarification of evolution as an interdisciplinary science. edarxiv.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2020). A teacher's guide to evolution, behavior, and sustainability science. 2nd Edition. GlobalESD.
Open Access    BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2020). Educational potential of teaching evolution as an interdisciplinary science. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 13(25).
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2019). The role of evolutionary studies in education for sustainable development. In D. Sloan Wilson, G. Geher, H. Mativetsky, & A. C. Gallup (Eds.), Darwin's roadmap to the curriculum: Evolutionary studies in higher education (pp. 249-272). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2019). A teacher's guide to evolution, behavior, and sustainability science. GlobalESD.
Open Access    BibTeX   Endnote   

Eirdosh, D., & Hanisch, S. (2017). Cultural Evolution in the Biology Classroom: A Design-Based Research Model in Education for Sustainable Development. Poster presented at Inaugural Cultural Evolution Society Conference, Jena.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote