The Inability of Primary School to Introduce Children to the Theory of Biological Evolution

Abstract

A great number of research papers in the English literature of science education present difficulties pupils have in understanding natural selection. Studies show that children have essentialist and teleological intuitive ideas when dealing with organisms and that these biases hinder their ability to understand the theory of evolution by natural selection. Consequently, it is interesting to ascertain if and how the school education offered today deals with the problem, i.e., helps the children confront these biases. To that purpose, this study answered the two following research questions: (a) How is biological evolution presented-from the past to the present day-in the official documentation of primary school education, namely the science curricula and the textbooks of Greece? and (b) what are the conceptions held by Greek primary school teachers of the concepts of evolutionary theory and relevant issues that they have to teach? Our research found that not only are the intuitive ideas not "confronted" but they are also "affirmed" in Greek primary education. This phenomenon, as some other international studies have shown, must not be only a Greek one. A drastic change in the content and structure of primary school curricula and the training of educators is necessary in order to improve and facilitate the teaching of biological evolution.

Early evolution of evolutionary thinking: teaching biological evolution in elementary schools

“…Despite its fundamental importance in biology and many other research fields, studies have shown that biological evolution is not yet accepted as a valid scientific theory by an important fraction of citizens from different nations (Miller et al 2006), and that misconceptions about evolution are frequent and shared by the general public, students, and teachers from several countries (Rutledge and Warden 2000;Nehm and Reilly 2007;Prinou et al 2011;Spiegel et al 2012). Furthermore, these misconceptions revealed to be persistent and difficult to overcome, even when applying learning programs specifically designed to promote such conceptual changes (Bishop and Anderson 1986;Nehm and Reilly 2007).…”

“…These observations led several researchers to propose an early exploration of evolutionary biology at elementary school or even kindergarten (Nadelson et al 2009;Hermann 2011;Wagler 2010, 2012 andreferences therein). In agreement with this view, several countries explicitly include, or intend to include, evolution in their official curricula for elementary schools (see as examples the Canadian curriculum or the United Kingdom draft curriculum in Additional file 1; Berti et al, 2010 andPrinou et al 2011 for Italian and Greek curricula, respectively). However, in some of these cases evolutionary mechanisms are not explored and evolution is only mentioned in the context of adaptation, preventing students to understand the real impact of evolution in biological diversity (Prinou et al 2011;Wagler 2012).…”

“…In agreement with this view, several countries explicitly include, or intend to include, evolution in their official curricula for elementary schools (see as examples the Canadian curriculum or the United Kingdom draft curriculum in Additional file 1; Berti et al, 2010 andPrinou et al 2011 for Italian and Greek curricula, respectively). However, in some of these cases evolutionary mechanisms are not explored and evolution is only mentioned in the context of adaptation, preventing students to understand the real impact of evolution in biological diversity (Prinou et al 2011;Wagler 2012). In other countries, including Portugal, evolution or adaptation are absent from the official programs of elementary school.…”

“…Also, the key concepts that are required to understand biological evolution are simple, and students need only to recognize: (1) the existence of intra-specific variability; (2) that part of this variability can be transmitted over generations; (3) that the frequency of variable traits may change over generations; and (4) that these changes may cause the emergence of distinct species over time. These contents are common to official elementary school programs worldwide and can be easily explored using examples, facts, and problems that are part of students' daily life (Additional file 1; Prinou et al 2011).…”

Using Robotics as the Technological Foundation for the TPACK Framework in K-12 Classrooms

“…[26][27][28] It appears that possession of PCK, on its own, may not be adequate for educators to present the biological adaptation content in a manner accessible to students. In response, this lesson exploits the use of a four-legged mobile robot and situated cognition 10 techniques to produce a storyline embedded with important concepts of biological adaptation.…”