Parent-child conversations about evolution in the context of an interactive museum display
Keywords:
Conceptual Development, Evolution Understanding, Parent-Child Conversation, Informal Learning Environments, Science EducationAbstract
The theory of evolution by natural selection has revolutionized the biological sciences yet remains
confusing and controversial to the public at large. This study explored how a particular segment of the
public – visitors to a natural history museum – reason about evolution in the context of an interactive
cladogram, or evolutionary tree. The participants were 49 children aged four to twelve and one
accompanying parent. Together, they completed five activities using a touch-screen display of the
phylogenetic relations among the 19 orders of mammals. Across activities, participants revealed
similar misconceptions to those revealed by college undergraduates in previous studies. However, the
frequency of those misconceptions was attenuated by the level of parental engagement, particularly
the frequency of turn-taking between parents and children. Overall, these findings suggest that
evolutionary reasoning may be improved by the kinds of collaborative discussions fostered by
interactive museum displays, so long as the affordances of those displays encourage multi-user
interactions.
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References
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Anggoro, F. K., Waxman, S. R., & Medin, D. L. (2008). Naming practices and the acquisition of key
biological concepts: Evidence from English and Indonesian. Psychological Science 19, 314-319.
Asterhan, C. S. C., & Schwartz, B. B. (2007). The effects of monological and dialogical argumentation on
concept learning in evolutionary theory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 626-639.
Asterhan, C. S. C., & Schwartz, B. B. (2009). Argumentation and explanation in conceptual change:
Indications from protocol analyses of peer-to-peer dialog. Cognitive Science, 33, 374-400.
Baum, D. A., Smith, D. S., & Donovan, S. S. S. (2005). The tree-thinking challenge. Science, 310, 979-980.
Berti, A. E., Toneatti, L., & Rosati, V. (2010). Children’s conceptions about the origin of species: A study
of Italian children’s conceptions with and without instruction. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19,
506-538.
Bishop, B. & Anderson, C.A. (1990). Student conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution.
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27, 415-427.
Brumby, M. N. (1984). Misconceptions about the concept of natural selection by medical biology
students. Science Education, 68, 493-503.
Catley, K. M., & Novick, L. R. (2008). Seeing the wood for the trees: An analysis of evolutionary diagrams
in biology textbooks. BioScience, 58, 976-987.
Catley, K. M., Novick, L. R., & Shade, C. K. (2010). Interpreting evolutionary diagrams: When topology
and process conflict. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47, 861–882.
Craig, S. D., Chi, M. T. H., & VanLehn, K. (2009). Improving classroom learning by collaboratively
observing human tutoring videos while problem solving. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101,
779-789.
Crowley, K., Callanan, M., Jipson, J., Galco, J., Topping, K., & Shrager, J. (2001). Shared scientific thinking
in everyday parent-child activity. Science Education, 85, 712-732.
Crowley, K., Callanan, M.A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys
than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12, 258-261.
Diamond, J. (1994). Sex differences in science museums: A review. Curator, 37, 17-24.
Jipson, J. L., & Callanan, M. (2003). Mother-child conversation and children's understanding of
biological and non-biological changes in size. Child Development, 74, 629-644.
Evans, E. M., Spiegel, A., Gram, W., Frazier, B. F., Tare, M., Thompson, S., & Diamond, J. (2010). A
conceptual guide to natural history museum visitors’ understanding of evolution. Journal of
Research in Science Teaching, 47, 326-353.
Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gelman, S. A., & Coley, J. D. (1990). The importance of knowing a dodo is a bird: Categories and
inferences in 2-year-old children. Developmental Psychology, 26, 796-804.
Gleason, M. E., & Schauble, L. (2000). Parents’ assistance of their children’s scientific reasoning.
Cognition and Instruction, 17, 343-378.
Gunderson, E. A., & Levine, S. C. (2011). Some types of parent number talk count more than others:
Relations between parents’ input and children’s cardinal-number knowledge. Developmental
Science, 14, 1021-1032.
Gregory, T. R. (2008). Understanding evolutionary trees. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 1, 121-
137.
Gregory, T. R. (2009). Understanding natural selection: Essential concepts and common
misconceptions. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2, 156-175.
Griffith, J. A., & Brem, S. K. (2004). Teaching evolutionary biology: pressures, stress, and coping. Journal
of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 791-809.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1994). Young children’s naïve theory of biology. Cognition, 50, 171-188.
Legare, C. H., Lane, J., & Evans, E. M. (in press). Anthropomorphizing science: How does it affect the
development of evolutionary concepts? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
Mayr, E. (1982). The growth of biological thought: Diversity, evolution, and inheritance. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
Meir, E., Perry, J, Herron, J. C., & Kingsolver, J. (2007). College students’ misconceptions about
evolutionary trees. American Biology Teacher, 69, 71-76.
Miller, J. D., Scott, E. C., & Okamoto, S. (2006). Public acceptance of evolution. Science, 313, 765-766.
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National Research Council (1998). Teaching about evolution and the nature of science. Washington,
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Evolutionary Psychology, 8, 205-228.
Newport, F. (2010). Four in 10 Americans believe in strict creationism. Gallup Organization.
Novick, L. R., & Catley, K. M. (2007). Understanding phylogenies in biology: The influence of a Gestalt
perceptual principle. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 13, 197-223.
Novick, L. R., Shade, C. K., & Catley, K. M. (2010). Linear versus branching depictions of evolutionary
history: Implications for design. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3, 536-559.
Okada, T., & Simon, H. (1997). Collaborative discovery in a scientific domain. Cognitive Science, 21,
109-146.
Rigney, J. C., & Callanan, M. A. (2011). Patterns in parent-child conversations about animals at a marine
science center. Cognitive Development, 26, 155-171.
Samarapungavan, A. & Wiers, R. W. (1997). Children’s thoughts on the origin of species: A study of
explanatory coherence. Cognitive Science, 21, 147-177.
Schwarz, B. B., Neuman, Y., & Biezuner, S. (2000). Two wrongs may make a right...if they argue together!
Cognition & Instruction, 18, 461-494.
Shtulman, A. (2006). Qualitative differences between naive and scientific theories of evolution.
Cognitive Psychology, 52, 170-194.
Shtulman, A., & Calabi, P. (2012). Cognitive constraints on the understanding and acceptance of
evolution. In K. S. Rosengren, S. Brem, E. M. Evans, & G. Sinatra (Eds.), Evolution Challenges:
Integrating Research and Practice in Teaching and Learning about Evolution (pp. 47-65).
Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press.
Shtulman, A., & Calabi, P. (in press). Tuition vs. intuition: Effects of instruction on naive theories of
evolution. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
Shtulman, A., & Schulz, L. (2008). The relation between essentialist beliefs and evolutionary reasoning.
Cognitive Science, 32, 1049-1062.
Sinatra, G. M., Brem, S. K., & Evans, E. M. (2008). Changing minds? Implications of conceptual change
for teaching and learning about biological evolution. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 1, 189-
195.
Solomon, G. E. A., & Zaitchik, D. (2012). Folkbiology. WIREs Cognitive Science, 3, 105-115.
Southerland, S. A., Abrams, E., Cummins, C. L., & Anzelmo, J. (2001). Understanding students’
explanations of biological phenomena: Conceptual frameworks or p-prims? Science Education, 85,
328-348.
Spiegel, A., Evans, E. M., Frazier, B. F., Hazel, A., Tare, M., Gram, W., & Diamond, J. (2012). Changing
museum visitors’ concepts of evolution. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5, 43-61.
Tare, M., French, J., Frazier, B., Diamond, J., & Evans, E. M. (2011). Explanatory parent-child conversation
predominates at an evolution exhibit. Science Education, 95, 720-744.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Prior, J., Dowling, C. L., & Frost, R. E. (2010) Supporting parent-child conversations in
a history museum. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 241-254.
Torrens, E., & Barahona, A. (2012). Why are some evolutionary trees in natural history museums prone
to being misinterpreted? Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5, 76-100.
van Schijndel, T. J. P., Franse, R. K., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2010). The exploratory behavior scale:
assessing young visitors hands-on behavior in science museums. Science Education, 94, 794-809.
Waxman, S., Medin, D., & Ross, N. (2007). Folkbiological reasoning from a cross-cultural developmental
perspective: Early essentialist notions are shaped by cultural beliefs. Developmental Psychology,
43, 294-308.
199-212.
Anggoro, F. K., Waxman, S. R., & Medin, D. L. (2008). Naming practices and the acquisition of key
biological concepts: Evidence from English and Indonesian. Psychological Science 19, 314-319.
Asterhan, C. S. C., & Schwartz, B. B. (2007). The effects of monological and dialogical argumentation on
concept learning in evolutionary theory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 626-639.
Asterhan, C. S. C., & Schwartz, B. B. (2009). Argumentation and explanation in conceptual change:
Indications from protocol analyses of peer-to-peer dialog. Cognitive Science, 33, 374-400.
Baum, D. A., Smith, D. S., & Donovan, S. S. S. (2005). The tree-thinking challenge. Science, 310, 979-980.
Berti, A. E., Toneatti, L., & Rosati, V. (2010). Children’s conceptions about the origin of species: A study
of Italian children’s conceptions with and without instruction. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19,
506-538.
Bishop, B. & Anderson, C.A. (1990). Student conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution.
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27, 415-427.
Brumby, M. N. (1984). Misconceptions about the concept of natural selection by medical biology
students. Science Education, 68, 493-503.
Catley, K. M., & Novick, L. R. (2008). Seeing the wood for the trees: An analysis of evolutionary diagrams
in biology textbooks. BioScience, 58, 976-987.
Catley, K. M., Novick, L. R., & Shade, C. K. (2010). Interpreting evolutionary diagrams: When topology
and process conflict. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47, 861–882.
Craig, S. D., Chi, M. T. H., & VanLehn, K. (2009). Improving classroom learning by collaboratively
observing human tutoring videos while problem solving. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101,
779-789.
Crowley, K., Callanan, M., Jipson, J., Galco, J., Topping, K., & Shrager, J. (2001). Shared scientific thinking
in everyday parent-child activity. Science Education, 85, 712-732.
Crowley, K., Callanan, M.A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys
than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12, 258-261.
Diamond, J. (1994). Sex differences in science museums: A review. Curator, 37, 17-24.
Jipson, J. L., & Callanan, M. (2003). Mother-child conversation and children's understanding of
biological and non-biological changes in size. Child Development, 74, 629-644.
Evans, E. M., Spiegel, A., Gram, W., Frazier, B. F., Tare, M., Thompson, S., & Diamond, J. (2010). A
conceptual guide to natural history museum visitors’ understanding of evolution. Journal of
Research in Science Teaching, 47, 326-353.
Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gelman, S. A., & Coley, J. D. (1990). The importance of knowing a dodo is a bird: Categories and
inferences in 2-year-old children. Developmental Psychology, 26, 796-804.
Gleason, M. E., & Schauble, L. (2000). Parents’ assistance of their children’s scientific reasoning.
Cognition and Instruction, 17, 343-378.
Gunderson, E. A., & Levine, S. C. (2011). Some types of parent number talk count more than others:
Relations between parents’ input and children’s cardinal-number knowledge. Developmental
Science, 14, 1021-1032.
Gregory, T. R. (2008). Understanding evolutionary trees. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 1, 121-
137.
Gregory, T. R. (2009). Understanding natural selection: Essential concepts and common
misconceptions. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2, 156-175.
Griffith, J. A., & Brem, S. K. (2004). Teaching evolutionary biology: pressures, stress, and coping. Journal
of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 791-809.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1994). Young children’s naïve theory of biology. Cognition, 50, 171-188.
Legare, C. H., Lane, J., & Evans, E. M. (in press). Anthropomorphizing science: How does it affect the
development of evolutionary concepts? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
Mayr, E. (1982). The growth of biological thought: Diversity, evolution, and inheritance. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
Meir, E., Perry, J, Herron, J. C., & Kingsolver, J. (2007). College students’ misconceptions about
evolutionary trees. American Biology Teacher, 69, 71-76.
Miller, J. D., Scott, E. C., & Okamoto, S. (2006). Public acceptance of evolution. Science, 313, 765-766.
National Research Council (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.
National Research Council (1998). Teaching about evolution and the nature of science. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press.
Nettle, D. (2010). Understanding of evolution may be improved by thinking about people.
Evolutionary Psychology, 8, 205-228.
Newport, F. (2010). Four in 10 Americans believe in strict creationism. Gallup Organization.
Novick, L. R., & Catley, K. M. (2007). Understanding phylogenies in biology: The influence of a Gestalt
perceptual principle. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 13, 197-223.
Novick, L. R., Shade, C. K., & Catley, K. M. (2010). Linear versus branching depictions of evolutionary
history: Implications for design. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3, 536-559.
Okada, T., & Simon, H. (1997). Collaborative discovery in a scientific domain. Cognitive Science, 21,
109-146.
Rigney, J. C., & Callanan, M. A. (2011). Patterns in parent-child conversations about animals at a marine
science center. Cognitive Development, 26, 155-171.
Samarapungavan, A. & Wiers, R. W. (1997). Children’s thoughts on the origin of species: A study of
explanatory coherence. Cognitive Science, 21, 147-177.
Schwarz, B. B., Neuman, Y., & Biezuner, S. (2000). Two wrongs may make a right...if they argue together!
Cognition & Instruction, 18, 461-494.
Shtulman, A. (2006). Qualitative differences between naive and scientific theories of evolution.
Cognitive Psychology, 52, 170-194.
Shtulman, A., & Calabi, P. (2012). Cognitive constraints on the understanding and acceptance of
evolution. In K. S. Rosengren, S. Brem, E. M. Evans, & G. Sinatra (Eds.), Evolution Challenges:
Integrating Research and Practice in Teaching and Learning about Evolution (pp. 47-65).
Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press.
Shtulman, A., & Calabi, P. (in press). Tuition vs. intuition: Effects of instruction on naive theories of
evolution. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
Shtulman, A., & Schulz, L. (2008). The relation between essentialist beliefs and evolutionary reasoning.
Cognitive Science, 32, 1049-1062.
Sinatra, G. M., Brem, S. K., & Evans, E. M. (2008). Changing minds? Implications of conceptual change
for teaching and learning about biological evolution. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 1, 189-
195.
Solomon, G. E. A., & Zaitchik, D. (2012). Folkbiology. WIREs Cognitive Science, 3, 105-115.
Southerland, S. A., Abrams, E., Cummins, C. L., & Anzelmo, J. (2001). Understanding students’
explanations of biological phenomena: Conceptual frameworks or p-prims? Science Education, 85,
328-348.
Spiegel, A., Evans, E. M., Frazier, B. F., Hazel, A., Tare, M., Gram, W., & Diamond, J. (2012). Changing
museum visitors’ concepts of evolution. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5, 43-61.
Tare, M., French, J., Frazier, B., Diamond, J., & Evans, E. M. (2011). Explanatory parent-child conversation
predominates at an evolution exhibit. Science Education, 95, 720-744.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Prior, J., Dowling, C. L., & Frost, R. E. (2010) Supporting parent-child conversations in
a history museum. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 241-254.
Torrens, E., & Barahona, A. (2012). Why are some evolutionary trees in natural history museums prone
to being misinterpreted? Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5, 76-100.
van Schijndel, T. J. P., Franse, R. K., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2010). The exploratory behavior scale:
assessing young visitors hands-on behavior in science museums. Science Education, 94, 794-809.
Waxman, S., Medin, D., & Ross, N. (2007). Folkbiological reasoning from a cross-cultural developmental
perspective: Early essentialist notions are shaped by cultural beliefs. Developmental Psychology,
43, 294-308.
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Published
2017-07-25
How to Cite
Shtulman, A., & Checa, I. (2017). Parent-child conversations about evolution in the context of an interactive museum display. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 5(1), 27–46. Retrieved from https://iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/8
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