Creencias populares y enseñanza de la Biología

Abstract

The existence of some popular beliefs has been referred to by several studies. A few of these popular beliefs, which seem to be also widespread in Portugal, are related to biological contents. Therefore, it can be expected that many students hold some of these beliefs when they come to the biology classes. Based on this suspicion, the authors decided to investigate:
— The degree of adhesion shown by students with different biology backgrounds, to some popular beliefs.
— The importance given by some biology textbooks to the popular beliefs.