Students and even their teachers often have misconceptions about the process of evolution. The concept of natural selection causes the most problems. Pupils' knowledge is primarily influenced by the teaching method, as well as the textbooks they use. New discoveries about evolution are always coming to light, which the textbooks cannot keep up with, as they are rarely updated. This is where information and communication technology comes in, which can be easily adapted to the different needs of students and classes, and in addition provides information on the latest scientific achievements, as it is constantly updated. The problem also arises with practical examples to explain the course of evolution. Evolution is a difficult subject to learn and teach because it deals with phenomena that cannot be directly observed. Teachers would need information about new concrete examples of research on evolution by natural selection to help them explain the process of evolution.
In the first part of the master's thesis, we reviewed the literature on evolution and its teaching. We touched on evolution itself and the problems with its understanding, and then we examined the teaching of evolution abroad and in Slovenia.
In order to show teachers concrete examples and new, interesting activities, in our master's thesis we analyzed a journal in the field of science didactics, namely The American Biology Teacher, and searched for articles in it that discussed evolution in the years 2017 to 2020. We have looked for good examples for teaching evolution in primary and secondary schools, which can be transferred to the Slovenian school system and will facilitate the understanding of this learning content and improve the quality of students' knowledge.
We found that 349 scientific articles were published in The American Biology Teacher from 2017 to 2020. 38 articles related to evolution were published. Thus, the share of these articles represents 10.9% of all published biological articles in the journal. 28 articles can be transferred to the school system. Of these, as many as 16 are completely feasible in the Slovenian school environment, 1 article with minor adaptation. The contents of 8 articles are partially feasible, while the activities from only three articles are not feasible.
Evolution is a subject, where misconceptions are very common, but on the other hand, it is vast and challenging. That is why it is important to motivate students and present them with evolutionary content in the most comprehensible and attractive way possible, which the activities and suggestions in the articles certainly are.
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