{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"Authorea, Inc."}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,3]],"date-time":"2025-06-03T16:36:02Z","timestamp":1748968562683,"version":"3.41.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"group-title":"Preprints","reference-count":0,"publisher":"Wiley","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"abstract":"<jats:p id=\"p1\">While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be\nexplored from the initial years of schooling, little information is\navailable on effective resources to enhance elementary school students\u2019\nlevel of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For\nthe present study, we designed, implemented and evaluated an educational\nactivity planned for fourth graders to explore concepts and conceptual\nfields that were historically important for the discovery of natural\nselection. Observation field notes and students\u2019 productions were used\nto analyse how the students explored the proposed activity.\nAdditionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the\nevaluation criteria and the scoring process was applied in two\nfourth-grade classes to estimate elementary school students\u2019 LUENS\nbefore and after engaging in the activity. Our results suggest that our\nactivity allowed students to effectively link all of the key concepts in\nthe classroom and produced a significant increase in their LUENS. These\nresults indicate that our activity had a positive impact on students\u2019\nunderstanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional\nactivities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to\nfurther support students\u2019 learning about the concept of differential\nreproduction. We also observed a low level of teleological predictions\nfor both pre- and post-tests.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.22541\/au.161439396.60891973\/v1","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]],"date-time":"2021-02-27T02:46:06Z","timestamp":1614393966000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Malthus for kids: The impact of exploring Malthus\u2019 principle on elementary school students\u2019 understanding of evolution by natural selection"],"prefix":"10.22541","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6049-110X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xana","family":"S\u00e1-Pinto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aveiro Research Centre Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers"}]},{"given":"Alexandre","family":"Pinto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic Institute of Porto School of Education"}]},{"given":"Joana","family":"Ribeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic Institute of Porto School of Education"}]},{"given":"In\u00eas","family":"Sarmento","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic Institute of Porto School of Education"}]},{"given":"Patr\u00edcia","family":"Pessoa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aveiro Research Centre Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers"}]},{"given":"Leonor","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Ecology Evolution and Environmental Changes"}]},{"given":"Luc\u00eda","family":"V\u00e1zquez-Ben","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Educational Studies, Universidade da Coru\u00f1a"}]},{"given":"Evangelia","family":"Mavrikaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Primary Education, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens"}]},{"given":"Joaquim Bernardino","family":"Lopes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro"}]}],"member":"311","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]],"date-time":"2021-02-27T02:46:06Z","timestamp":1614393966000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.authorea.com\/users\/398447\/articles\/511069-malthus-for-kids-the-impact-of-exploring-malthus-principle-on-elementary-school-students-understanding-of-evolution-by-natural-selection?commit=6088ccf44915b2b6baa16726485caa8a2977cf48"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.22541\/au.161439396.60891973\/v1","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,27]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}