Early evolution of evolutionary thinking: teaching biological evolution in elementary schools

Abstract

Background: Evolution is considered the unifying concept in biology and is also a key theory underlying many areas of human knowledge. Teaching evolution from as early as kindergarten allows children to better understand concepts related with the biological world and prevents the development of negative feelings and misconceptions about the theory of evolution. However, evolution is absent from most of the educational curricula in the early school grades, even though some of its central concepts are common contents in the curricula of these initial years. Methods: In the present paper we present a set of activities that can be performed with elementary school students to explore and understand evolution and its impact on biological diversity, while promoting critical thinking and scientific literacy. These activities explore concepts of intra-specific diversity, genealogy and inheritance, natural selection, genetic drift, and systematics, using contexts that are familiar to students, and were articulated with the Portuguese official curriculum. Similar contents are present in elementary school curricula of other countries, namely Brazil, United Kingdom, France, United States of America, Canada, or Mozambique, and therefore the same activities can potentially be used in many different countries. Results and conclusions: Regardless of the complexity of the theory behind these concepts, our experience revealed that using these activities children were able to understand basic evolutionary mechanisms and to apply this knowledge in real case scenarios.

Encountering Evolution : Children's Meaning-Making Processes in Collaborative Interactions

“…The other cohort of research, namely many of the studies focusing on engaging students in learning through activities, has shown that children can gain a simplified understanding of natural selection through such activities as games (Campos & Sá-Pinto, 2013) and virtual laboratories (Horwitz et al, 2013). These results are in line with findings from other researchers focusing on children's meaning making in science.…”

“…Researchers have made several attempts to find ways to teach evolution to young children. For example, children have been taught about evolutionary mechanisms through playful games (Campos & Sá-Pinto, 2013), computer games (Horwitz et al, 2013), hands-on activities (Nadelson et al, 2009), and storybooks (Browning & Hohenstein, 2015;Emmons et al, 2017;Emmons et al, 2016;Kelemen et al, 2014). In summary, this research has shown that children as young as five years old are able to learn simplified versions of multiple evolutionary concepts.…”

“…In a study by Campos and Sá-Pinto (2013), children (grade K-4 5 ) explored evolutionary concepts in contexts assumed to be familiar and relevant to the children. The authors describe five activities that simulate evolution presented as games, framed within short stories.…”

“…Många försök har gjorts att skapa olika läraktiviteter eller interventioner med syfte att lära barn som evolution. Bland annat har barn undervisats genom olika lekfulla spel (Campos & Sá-Pinto, 2013), datorspel (Horwitz et al, 2013), skapandeaktiviteter (Nadelson et al, 2009) och genom högläsning av böcker som handlar om hur arter utvecklas (Emmons et al, 2017;Emmons et al, 2016;Kelemen et al, 2014). Sammantaget pekar denna forskning på att barn redan i femårsåldern kan förstå, i alla fall vissa aspekter av, evolution.…”

The dandelion evolution outreach program: learning through inquiry-based community engagement

“…In addition, active engagement in research related to the topic of study has been shown to further increase student interest in pursuing post-secondary studies in that field (reviewed by Kimbrough 1995). An outreach program by Campos & Sá-pinto (2013) designed to teach elementary school students about the fundamental concepts of evolution, used a series of simulations, drawing activities and group discussions. Though no metrics of learning were assessed, the authors described the students as engaged and able to perform the tasks asked of them.…”