The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution
Several researchers and scientific institutions argue that evolution should be explored from the first school years. However, few studies have analysed primary school students’ understanding of evolutionary processes or evaluated the impact of educational activities on such knowledge. The available...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Ljubljana
2023-03-01
|
| Series: | Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1508 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849397026832252928 |
|---|---|
| author | Xana Sá-Pinto Patrícia Pessoa Alexandre Pinto Pedro Cardia Joaquim Bernardino Lopes |
| author_facet | Xana Sá-Pinto Patrícia Pessoa Alexandre Pinto Pedro Cardia Joaquim Bernardino Lopes |
| author_sort | Xana Sá-Pinto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Several researchers and scientific institutions argue that evolution should be explored from the first school years. However, few studies have analysed primary school students’ understanding of evolutionary processes or evaluated the impact of educational activities on such knowledge. The available data: i) suggest that primary school students can learn about evolution; and ii) identify differential reproduction as the key evolution concept less often used by students to make and justify evolutionary predictions. In the present study, we evaluate the impact of an educational programme on primary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection and on their ability to employ differential reproduction to propose and justify evolutionary predictions. An evaluation framework was applied to estimate primary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection in third- and fourth-grade classes, before and after the students were exposed to the educational programme. A significant increase in the level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection was observed in the target classes, but not in the control classes. This result was primarily driven by a significant increase in the students’ justifications employing the concept of differential reproduction. The results suggest that activities that model and simulate biological evolution through sexual selection can contribute to primary school students’ understanding of evolutionary processes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a9a168dcdbf847c397b33104d375d9fd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1855-9719 2232-2647 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-a9a168dcdbf847c397b33104d375d9fd2025-08-20T03:39:10ZengUniversity of LjubljanaCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal1855-97192232-26472023-03-0113112114110.26529/cepsj.1508The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of EvolutionXana Sá-PintoPatrícia PessoaAlexandre PintoPedro CardiaJoaquim Bernardino LopesSeveral researchers and scientific institutions argue that evolution should be explored from the first school years. However, few studies have analysed primary school students’ understanding of evolutionary processes or evaluated the impact of educational activities on such knowledge. The available data: i) suggest that primary school students can learn about evolution; and ii) identify differential reproduction as the key evolution concept less often used by students to make and justify evolutionary predictions. In the present study, we evaluate the impact of an educational programme on primary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection and on their ability to employ differential reproduction to propose and justify evolutionary predictions. An evaluation framework was applied to estimate primary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection in third- and fourth-grade classes, before and after the students were exposed to the educational programme. A significant increase in the level of understanding of evolution by sexual selection was observed in the target classes, but not in the control classes. This result was primarily driven by a significant increase in the students’ justifications employing the concept of differential reproduction. The results suggest that activities that model and simulate biological evolution through sexual selection can contribute to primary school students’ understanding of evolutionary processes.https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1508primary schoolsexual selectionevolution educationconceptual understandingmodel-based learning |
| spellingShingle | Xana Sá-Pinto Patrícia Pessoa Alexandre Pinto Pedro Cardia Joaquim Bernardino Lopes The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal primary school sexual selection evolution education conceptual understanding model-based learning |
| title | The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution |
| title_full | The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution |
| title_short | The Impact of Exploring Sexual Selection on Primary School Students’ Understanding of Evolution |
| title_sort | impact of exploring sexual selection on primary school students understanding of evolution |
| topic | primary school sexual selection evolution education conceptual understanding model-based learning |
| url | https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1508 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xanasapinto theimpactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT patriciapessoa theimpactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT alexandrepinto theimpactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT pedrocardia theimpactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT joaquimbernardinolopes theimpactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT xanasapinto impactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT patriciapessoa impactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT alexandrepinto impactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT pedrocardia impactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution AT joaquimbernardinolopes impactofexploringsexualselectiononprimaryschoolstudentsunderstandingofevolution |