How Spanish primary school students interpret the concepts of population and species

Abstract

This article presents research concerning the way in which primary school pupils in southern Spain interpret the concepts of population and species. The results show that, for the concept of population, there was an intense anthropocentrism in pupils' responses, while for the concept of species, only animals were considered as living creatures. These interpretations influence the vision that the students will develop of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as their respect and care for living beings. We propose some suggestions in order to improve the teaching of these concepts in primary education.

Plant awareness disparity among students of different educational levels in Spain

“…Taking the two baccalaureate pathways separately (sciences and social sciences & humanities), the correlation was not significant for test animals 2/plants 2, suggesting that, unlike plant recognition (plants 2, Table 4), correlation between plant and animal literacy would not depend on pathways, but on educational levels. The results could be related not just to students overseeing plants, but to the fact that, for example in PE, pupils might not even consider plants as living beings (Jiménez-Tejada et al, 2013;Martínez-Losada et al, 2014), thus transferring this handicap to SE. Their characteristics (lack of movement, absence of a face, uniform colors, etc.)…”

La Biodiversidad y su transposición didáctica en el currículo de Primaria en las Leyes Orgánicas de Educación desde la LOGSE (1990)

“…3. Valor propedéutico de la definición de especie: que puede llevar en la Secundaria a problemas en el tratamiento del concepto, hecho ya demostrado 1303-12 por otros investigadores (Jiménez-Tejada, Sánchez-Monsalve y González-García, 2013;Jiménez-Tejada et al, 2014). 4.…”