The evolution of the species: pupil perspectives and school perspectives

Abstract

In order to understand how pupils think with respect to evolution and the development of the species, a class of Swedish gymnasium pupils (upper secondary level) taking a course in genetics and evolution was observed. The pupils wrote essays before and after receiving instruction in these topics, and some of them were also asked to discuss the question of how characteristics are inherited. The pupils had fairly extensive factual knowledge, but had difficulty in relating these facts to one another in coherent descriptions and explanations. It is suggested that the difficulties the pupils experienced can be attributed to their diffuse understanding of what is meant by explanation, of different kinds of explanation and of the range of factors that can be covered by an explanation. An additional factor here is that pupils are often engaged in questions that may be irrelevant to the explanations given in the instruction and which may require other types of answers than those given in the instruction. The point is made that there is a meta level of alternative beliefs and that this level circumscribes what questions can be put in the realm of a subject matter field.