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Students’ Preconceptions About Evolution: How Accurate is the Characterization as “Lamarckian” when Considering the History of Evolutionary Thought?

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Abstract

In this paper, the main points of Lamarck’s and Darwin’s theoretical conceptual schemes about evolution are compared to those derived from 15 years old students’ explanations of evolutionary episodes. We suggest that secondary students’ preconceptions should not be characterized as “Lamarckian”, because they are essentially different from the ideas that Lamarck himself possessed. Most students in our research believed that needs directly impose changes on animal bodies in order to survive in a given environment and accepted the possibility of extinction whereas Lamarck believed that it was the effect of use or disuse that would produce changes on body structures and that species would transform but would not die out. We conclude that the relationship between secondary students’ ideas and historical views on evolution should be treated more skeptically, given the differences in the historical, social and cultural contexts, and that instruction should focus on students’ ideas of need-driven evolution as well as on the role of chance in the evolutionary process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank William McComas, as well as three anonymous reviewers, who made useful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geitonas School, Athens, Greece

    Kostas Kampourakis

  2. University of Patras, Rion, 26500, Greece

    Vasso Zogza

Authors
  1. Kostas Kampourakis
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  2. Vasso Zogza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kostas Kampourakis.

Appendices

Appendix

The open-ended questionnaire included the following five problems.

Problem 1

We know that the wolves, the dogs and the foxes are different species with their own special features. However, these species exhibit many morphological and physiological similarities. How could these be explained?

Problem 2

The giraffe, as we now know it, is an animal with a remarkably long neck. This feature allows the giraffe to browse on the leaves from the trees, when there is no adequate food on the ground. Nowadays we know that giraffes did not always possess this feature but used to have a shorter neck. Can you explain how the neck of the giraffe was lengthened?

Problem 3

Many animals exhibit the same color with their environment (e.g the white polar bear) or look alike different species (e.g. leaf-like insects) that distracts their predators or preys. Can you explain how these particular animals have developed these features?

Problem 4

Beetles may live on trees and feed on their leaves. Several years ago, both green and brown beetles could be found in equal proportions in a forest. However, birds could spot the green beetles more easily than the brown ones on the ground or on the trunks. Nowadays, if we attempt to estimate the proportions of green and brown beetles, we will mostly find brown ones. Can you explain how the proportion of the beetles living in the forest has changed?

Problem 5

So far you have studied bacteria, protists, fungi, plants and animals in the cellular level. Despite several differences, you have seen that all organisms exhibit some major features: (a) all organisms are built up by cells, and (b) all cells contain DNA, ribosomes and cellular membrane. Can you provide an explanation for the origin of these similarities?

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Kampourakis, K., Zogza, V. Students’ Preconceptions About Evolution: How Accurate is the Characterization as “Lamarckian” when Considering the History of Evolutionary Thought?. Sci Educ 16, 393–422 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-006-9019-9

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