Undervisning av evolutionsteorin : En studie om vanligt förekommande missförstånd och pedagogiska strategier för att främja elevers begreppsförståelse

Sammanfattning: Several studies have shown that many students have misconceptions and everyday concepts about evolution that prevent them from learning the theory of evolution. Previous research has also shown that biology teachers are not always aware of students’ difficulties or design education that challenges students’ conceptual understanding of evolution.  The purpose of this study is to develop knowledge about biology teachers’ evolution teaching, by describing which possible misunderstandings teachers identify that their students have and which teaching methods they use to identify and address these misunderstandings. The study also provides several examples of teaching strategies that could be used as a resource for teachers in their evolution teaching. Eight semi-structured interviews with Swedish biology teachers were conducted, where the majority teach at the upper secondary level.  The result shows that some biology teachers are aware of common misunderstandings in the theory of evolution, while others are not. A common misconception which most of the teachers raise is that their students express that individual organisms can adapt to the environment based on need. Evolutions is thus wrongly regarded as a need-driven process. Most biology teachers in the study do not use comprehensive methods, such as multiple-choice tests or assignments, to map students’ pre-understanding and potential misconceptions about evolution. An important conclusion from this study is that teachers need to design a student-orientated evolution education that takes a starting point from students’ misunderstandings, support students to develop their conceptual understanding and challenges prevailing misconceptions. A second important conclusion is that students together need to have the opportunity to discuss and compare everyday concepts with scientific explanatory models.