Teaching and Learning Biological Evolution in Secondary Education: Students' Perspectives

Abstract

The study presented here focuses on the subject biological evolution, which integrates the curriculum of Biology and Geology in the 11th school year in Portugal, and it is part of a research work that took place in a secondary school in Lisbon. The concept of evolution is a fundamental pillar to biological knowledge, since it is considered by many to be the axis of integrative biology. To that extent, one of the starting points in this research was the following: How is biological evolution approached by teachers in the 11th school year classroom of Biology and Geology and what do students learn? Thus, we sought to identify teaching strategies through the perspective of the students and their understanding of the topic. The results show not much innovative teaching practices and a kind of learning very similar to scientific explanation, albeit it shows inconsistency for some of the inquired students.