Vpliv raziskovanja spolne selekcije na razumevanje evolucije pri osnovnošolcih

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. (DIPF/Orig.

Dos provérbios ao conhecimento científico: de poeta e cientista inventor todos temos um pouco com algum labor – o ensino das ciências físicas e naturais no 1.º e 2.º ciclos do ensino básico

Distinguir senso-comum de conhecimento científico é essencial para compreender a natureza da ciência e promover a literacia científica. Fruto de conhecimento experienciado e senso comum, os provérbios populares representam uma excelente oportunidade para explorar a natureza das ciências e competências do português. Com este trabalho pretendemos investigar as potencialidades da exploração do património literário oral para o desenvolvimento da literacia científica dos alunos, para a promoção de práticas epistémicas e compreensão e produção de provérbios. Os resultados sugerem que sequências didáticas que contrastam o conhecimento científico e o senso comum contribuem para desenvolver práticas epistémicas em contexto escolar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Following Darwin’s footsteps: Evaluating the impact of an activity designed for elementary school students to link historically important evolution key concepts on their understanding of natural selection

While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be explored from the initial years of schooling, little information is available on effective resources to enhance elementary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For the present study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational activity planned for fourth graders (9 to 10 years old) to explore concepts and conceptual fields that were historically important for the discovery of natural selection. Observation field notes and students’ productions were used to analyze how the students explored the proposed activity. Additionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the evaluation criteria, and the scoring process was applied in two fourth-grade classes (N = 44) to estimate elementary school students’ LUENS before and after engaging in the activity. Our results show that our activity allowed students to link the key concepts, resulting in a significant increase of their understanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional activities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to further support students’ learning about the concept of differential reproduction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dinâmicas investigativas no CIDTFF: problematizar o paradigma da investigação face ao desenvolvimento sustentável

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Investigação em educação e responsabilidade social: que lugares e possibilidades no CIDTFF?

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Key recommendations on science communication in Europe relating to health and food safety

In the autumn of 2018, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, consulted EvoKE on several science communication issues important to social wellbeing and sustainable development in Europe. These included how to change people’s attitudes toward science, scientific knowledge, and how to communicate about risk, with a special emphasis on food-related issues. Our response, based on research in education and science communication was that simply providing access to information and facts (the so-called deficit model of science communication) is not sufficient. People build their positions and attitudes based on emotional factors and then engage in motivated reasoning, looking for and/or attaching greater value to evidence and experts that support their initial attitudes. Although more studies are needed, research already provides avenues to address this problem. In this document we use the most important lessons of the research to recommend solutions that can be applied, illustrated by case studies

Learning evolution through socioscientific issues

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Promoting scientific literacy in evolution through citizen science

Evolutionary understanding is central to biology. It is also an essential prerequisite to understanding and making informed decisions about societal issues such as climate change. Yet, evolution is generally poorly understood by civil society and many misconceptions exist. Citizen science, which has been increasing in popularity as a means to gather new data and promote scientific literacy, is one strategy through which people could learn about evolution. However, despite the potential for citizen science to promote evolution learning opportunities, very few projects implement them. In this paper, we make the case for incorporating evolution education into citizen science, define key learning goals, and suggest opportunities for designing and evaluating projects in order to promote scientific literacy in evolution