Undervisning av teorier kring livets uppkomst och evolution i ämnet biologi på grundskolans senare år och gymnasiet. : Kan misstolkning av läroplanerna  leda till konflikter kring undervisning om evolution?

Sammanfattning: Recent studies indicate that teaching the theory of evolution in Swedish secondary schools is not as uncontroversial as expected considering that Sweden is often described as one of the World’s most secularzied countries. A recent study indicates that Swedish teachers have a varity of tactics to avoid coming in conflict with their students or even parents of students that believe they have a rightto dictate how evolution should be taught. This study had fourmain aims; the first being to analyse both the previous curriculum and the new to see how the teaching of evolution is adressed, and if any changes have been made in the curriculum. The second being to look into how teachers interpret the curriculumand if they have noticed any changes in the new curriculum which have had an affect on their teachingmethods? The third being if teachers have met resistance when they teach evolution and the origins of life, and if so, how do they deal with these conflicts? The fourth and final aim of this study was to see if instances of conflict are on the rise as indicatedin the literature.The results of this study indicate that there has been no siginificant changes made in the curriculum with the exceptionthat the new curriculum is more clear and precise as to what teachers are expected to teach and that pseudoscience, such as intelligent design, has no place in science classroomsexcept when teachingthe philosophy of science. The teachers interviewed indicatad that they had not changed their teaching methods since they had not interperted any significant change in the curriculum. Swedish teachers have oftan at one time or another met some resistance when teaching evolution but this resistance was described as a “passive conflict” which was often solved though discussion. No conclusion could be made as to if these instances of conflict were on the rise.The importance of teaching students the philosophy of science seemed to be key in the teaching of evolution.