Description of Vertebrates’ Evolutionary Paths in Junior High School Science Textbooks and University Students’ Understanding Thereof

Abstract

This study investigated how the ancestors of each group of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) have been described in the junior high school science textbooks published in the past 17 years. In addition, we surveyed whether differences exist in university students’ understanding of vertebrates’ evolutionary paths according to the learning period. The results revealed that textbooks published before 2011 described reptiles as the ancestors of mammals, but after 2011, amphibians were described as their ancestors. The survey found that, in the groups that did not learn about the evolution of living things at junior high school, the proportion of answers was almost equally divided between amphibians, reptiles, and birds to the question about ancestors of mammals. However, in the groups that learned about the evolution of living things at junior high school, only a few university students considered that the ancestors of mammals were amphibians. In addition, the proportion of students who considered that the ancestors of mammals were reptiles and those who considered that the ancestors of mammals were birds was almost the same. Therefore, it was found that the perception of the evolutionary path of vertebrates differs according to the period of learning.