Argues that Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" remains a seldom-read book among both biologists and biology students. Explains that this situation presents two problems: (1) it perpetuates misconceptions about Darwin and his ideas, and (2) it prevents an understanding of developing arguments through the selection of appropriate…

Explores the issue of the consistency of use of students' conceptions across different tasks which probed understandings of aspects of pressure, heat, and biological evolution. Findings indicate that children have alternative frameworks for all investigated areas. (ML)