School Scientific Models in high school students. How do they explain adaptive evolution?

We present the results of two activities carried out during a Didactic Unit on the learning process of the model of evolution by natural selection (MESN), which allowed us to collect evidence of the students' school scientific models (SCM), based on their narratives. The aim of this research is to characterise the initial and final SCMs, through the conceptions or ideas that students use when explaining problems of adaptive evolution. Three research instruments were implemented in virtual format due to the pandemic: an initial questionnaire and a semi-structured interview before the didactic unit, as well as a written evaluation at the end of the process. The analysis of the students' explanations was carried out using the constant comparative method. The results indicate that the initial SCMs are characterised by the ideas of individual change, environmental induction and a teleological (finalist) character; while the final SCMs are characterised by the ideas of prior variability, variant-effectiveness relationship, as conceptions coherent with the MESN, but with the maintenance of two initial conceptions.

Automated summary

We collected evidence of students' scientific models on the model of evolution by natural selection through two activities. The initial and final scientific models were characterized based on the conceptions or ideas students used to explain problems of adaptive evolution. Three virtual research instruments were used: an initial questionnaire, a semi-structured interview, and a written evaluation. The constant comparative method was used to analyze students' explanations. The initial scientific models were characterized by ideas of individual change, environmental induction, and teleological (finalist) character, while the final models incorporated ideas of prior variability and variant-effectiveness relationship consistent with the model of evolution by natural selection.