Systematics, taxonomy and other disciplines of biology, which deal with the naming and classification of living organisms, are the most important part in biology. The current classification system is based on a system developed and described by a Swedish biologist Karl von Linnaeus. He introduced a dual system of naming organisms, based on the closest group of a particular organism (genus and species), which is then classified into higher, broader groups, based on the relatedness. The system is hierarchically arranged and is based on the evolutionary, morphological and ecological foundations of the classification of living organisms.
Pupils in elementary school encounter problems when attempting to properly classify organisms into the system, therefore, we decided to conduct a study, where we tried to identify pupils' misconceptions regarding vertebrates and invertebrates. We were interested in whether there were any differences in knowledge among the pupils, depending on the class they were attending.
The results of the research have shown that pupils are well aware of the concepts »vertebrate« and »invertebrate«, as they had classified most of the animals correctly. They encountered some difficulties while explaining their decision, as they were mainly talking about the visual characteristics of animals, which did not have a direct link with the classification of animals to vertebrates or invertebrates. We have found that pupils identify an unknown animal based on the comparison of it with an animal that they know well.
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