Understanding of and attitude towards evolution among Slovenian and Italian teenagers

Evolucija je za znanje in razumevanje biologije bistvenega pomena. V naši raziskavi smo pripravili vprašalnik, ki ga je izpolnilo 116 učencev. Sodelovali so učenci 8. in 9. razreda iz slovenske osnovne šole ter enako stari učenci dveh italijanskih šol. Z raziskavo smo želeli ugotoviti, kakšno znanje imajo slovenski in italijanski mladostniki o evolucijski teoriji, ki jo spoznajo pri pouku biologije, ter če so med njimi razlike. Preveriti smo želeli tudi, kakšen je njihov odnos do teorije evolucije. Ugotovili smo, da imajo slovenski in italijanski mladostniki zadovoljivo znanje o evolucijskem razvoju in da je to znanje boljše pri starejših kot pri mlajših. Med spoloma ni razlik. Izkazalo pa se je, da so med mladostniki obeh držav v znanju o evolucijskem razvoju majhne razlike. Pokazalo se je tudi, da slovenski in italijanski mladostniki večinoma sprejemajo teorijo evolucije in da njihovega znanja ne opredeljuje vera. Teorijo evolucije v večji meri sprejemajo starejši mladostniki, med spoloma pa ni razlik. Teorijo evolucije v večji meri sprejemajo italijanski mladostniki, saj so se prvi statistično pomembno manj strinjali s kreacionističnimi trditvami kot slovenski učenci.Evolution is of great importance for the knowledge and understanding of biology. In our research we prepared a questionnaire that was given to 116 students of classes 8 and 9 from a Slovenian and two Italian primary schools. With the research we wanted to find out what knowledge of the theory of evolution, about which they learn in Biology lessons, Slovenian and Italian teenagers have and if there are any differences among them. We also wanted to test their attitude towards the theory of evolution. We found out that Slovenian and Italian teenagers have an adequate knowledge of evolution, that older teenagers have a greater knowledge than the younger ones, and that there are no differences between girls and boys. There were small differences in the knowledge of evolution when comparing the two nationalitiesthe teenagers mostly accept the theory of evolution and their knowledge is not defined by religion. The theory of evolution is mostly accepted by older teenagershowever, there are no differences between the two genders. The theory of evolution is accepted more by Italian than Slovenian teenagers as the Italian teenagers statistically agreed less with creationist statements than the Slovenian students