Conceptions of natural selection: A snapshot of the sense making process
J. Settlage 1994 Journal of Research in Science Teaching. v31(5), p449-457

This study investigates why students retain naïve explanations of natural phenomena even after being presented with scientifically acceptable explanations and whether changes over time in students’ explanations of evolution shift in discernable patterns. This was done by giving fifty high school students, whose names were randomly selected from a pool of 200 students, pre and post-tests as part of their biology class and by having teachers field-test evolution activities from Evolution and Life on Earth from the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.

Subject: Education, Biology:Evolution
Resource Type: Scientific Resources:Overview/Reference Work, Journal Article
Research on Learning: Cognitive Domain:How information is organized:Mental models