Educatio biologiae, No. 4., 2018.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.32633/eb.4.2
Comparison of the knowledge of Croatian and Slovenian elementary school and grammar school students about the human evolution
Lara Kralj
; Gimnazija Josipa Slavenskog Čakovec, V, Nazora 34, Čakovec
Tanja Šalamon
; Gimnazija Josipa Slavenskog Čakovec, V, Nazora 34, Čakovec
Žaklin Lukša
; Gimnazija Josipa Slavenskog Čakovec, V, Nazora 34, Čakovec
Sažetak
Previous studies show that students have difficulties in understanding the evolution of human beings due to difficult conceptions and complexity of the subject. The objective of this research was to determine the knowledge of Croatian and Slovenian elementary and grammar school students about human evolution. We wanted to see if there was a difference in knowledge between the students of two countries, genders, and ages. Besides the knowledge, we wanted to determine whether there exist some characteristic students misconceptions about human evolution. The research was conducted in 2017 in Slovenian and Croatian gymnasiums and primary schools.170 students participated, of which 100 Croatian and Slovenian elementary students, and 70 high school students from these countries. An anonymous knowledge test was used for the research, and the data were processed in the SPSS program with the Mann-Whitney test. Research has shown that the knowledge of tested students about human evolution is satisfying. The overall average success on the anonymous test of knowledge was 64,8%. The most common correct answer was about the Neandertal site in Croatia, where 96,4% of students selected Krapina as correct answer. We have compared and checked the results that we collected. We can conclude that there are differences in the knowledge of human evolution between students of different countries, and grades. Slovenian high school students showed more knowledge about the evolution than Croatian high school students (we found 14 statistically significant differences, p < 0.05), while Croatian elementary students were more successful than Slovenian (we found 16 statistically significant differences, p < 0.05). Croatian gymnasiums have shown worse results than Slovenian elementary school students. Primary school knowledge about human evolution differs from grammar school by the frequency of correct answers in the test. Croatian elementary school students have shown more knowledge about the human evolution than Croatian high school students. There are negligible differences in the knowledge of human evolution between the genders, and Croatian and Slovenian students have similar misconceptions associated with human evolution. 41.5% of students think that we have evolved from chimpanzees, and 39,2% of students think that we are all descendants of Biblical Adam and Eve. The obtained results will effect on changes of teaching with a purpose of achieving better student outcomes associated with the concept of human evolution, and especially to prevent the creation of new misunderstandings.
Ključne riječi
human evolution; knowledge; Croatia; Slovenia; elementary school; gymnasium
Hrčak ID:
216468
URI
Datum izdavanja:
28.12.2018.
Posjeta: 2.770 *