Understanding natural selection requires mentally linking various key concepts and processes. Many students find it difficult to construct scientific explanations about natural selection and might display misconceptions. Our study aimed to investigate the understanding of natural selection and the existence of teleological or other misconceptions…

Evolution understanding is often positively connected with magnitudes of evolution acceptance, whereas religiosity mostly interferes negatively. However, comparisons between studies and countries must be treated cautiously due to the diversity of used instruments and samples. This study aims to generate new evidence concerning the interplay of…

The past decade has been marked by a series of global crises, presenting an opportunity to reevaluate the relationship between science and politics. The biological sciences are instrumental in understanding natural phenomena and informing policy decisions. However, scholars argue that current scientific expertise often fails to account for entire…

This study explored the usefulness of the open dialogue strategy to help Saudi Arabian primary teachers teach, and fourth-grade students learn, the key biological concept of classification, which is a significant challenge for students to grasp, especially the concept of humans versus animals. The convenience sample comprised N = 84 Grade four…

Despite the importance of evolution to understand living phenomena, evolution teaching confronts several tensions, especially with respect to teachers' and students' religious beliefs. These aspects have been widely investigated in the USA and Europe. However, little empirical research has been done on this issue in Latin America, despite their…

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), the negative effect of school-/class-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of educational psychology's most universal findings. However, critiques of this research have proposed moderators based on achievement motivation theories. Nevertheless, because these motivational theories are not…

This study based on cognitive and social semiotic theories investigates whether the influence of specific features of instructional representation from adolescent textbook images could last until adulthood in certain cultures. Two cultural groups, Indonesian (n = 61) and Taiwanese (n = 60) college students, were recruited from a public Taiwanese…

In this article, we present some practical tips primary teachers might use to help their students understand adaptations. We also aim to raise awareness of the learning progression towards understanding one of the big ideas of science. A key message is the role that language plays in presenting scientifically accurate ideas about adaptations.

Evolution is a fundamental part of biology and thus it is essential that biology preservice teachers understand and accept it. The relationship between knowledge and acceptance of evolution, and specifically human evolution, has not been fully investigated in Israel. We sought to learn about that relationship amongst Israeli Jewish religious…

Despite the importance of emotions in science education, research?on affect remains sparse. A promising direction is to explore the role of immersive visualisation in evoking affective responses. We investigate whether touch-based zooming interaction with a tabletop visualisation of the tree of life evokes various affective responses,…

Evolution by natural selection is a theory that constitutes a powerful paradigm capable of conveying the teaching-learning of multiple concepts in biology. However, it has been controversial from its formulation to the present, which also affects education. For instance, while some of the basic curricula of primary education in Europe are arranged…

Research has previously examined the role of the epistemological background of students in accepting or rejecting the theory of evolution. In this study, the participants were 11 undergraduate biology major students in a private university in Beirut, Lebanon. We collected data through semi-structured interviews, and we extracted the patterns…

We aimed to examine the acceptance of evolution and its relationship with religiosity among Greek biology university students and whether the attendance of an evolutionary biology course could affect the acceptance of evolution. In Greece the teaching of evolution has been downgraded from secondary education for years and Greeks exhibit a strong…

Anxiety alters how we perceive the world and can alter aspects of cognitive performance. Prominent theories of anxiety suggest that the effect of anxiety on cognition is due to anxious thoughts "overloading" limited cognitive resources, competing with other processes. If this is so, then a cognitive load manipulation should impact…

This study investigates how Grade 12 secondary school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) perceive and respond to teaching and learning on evolution. A mixed-methodology approach including a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was used. The study shows that Saudi students are aware of the great significance that has been…