Evolutionary anthropologists commonly describe humans as a highly cooperative species, based on our evolved socio-cognitive capacities. However, students and the general public may not necessarily share this view about our species. At the same time, fostering our ability to cooperate is considered a key foundation for achieving sustainable…

We investigated children's (n = 120; 3- to 11-year-olds) and adults' (n = 18) reasoning about life-cycle changes in biological organisms by examining their endorsements of four different patterns of life- span changes. Participants were presented with two separate tasks: (a) judging possible adult versions of a juvenile animal and (b) judging…

The purpose of this article is to establish a clear distinction between the concepts of childhood and infancy; this distinction can allow us to observe through the study of biopolitics, the radical changes that differ Foucault's classical analysis regarding children to Agamben's reflections on infancy. In the line of Agamben's theory, the…

This article describes the results of a study that investigated the use of the dissection of organs in anatomy and physiology classes in Slovenian lower and upper secondary schools. Based on a sample of 485 questionnaires collected from Slovenian lower and upper secondary school students, we can conclude that dissection of mammalian organs during…

Despite the ubiquitous use of anthropomorphic language to describe biological change in both educational settings and popular science, little is known about how anthropomorphic language influences children's understanding of evolutionary concepts. In an experimental study, we assessed whether the language used to convey evolutionary concepts…

We examined developmental changes in children's inductive inferences about biological concepts as a function of knowledge of properties and concepts. Specifically, 4- to 5-year-olds and 9- to 10-year-olds were taught either familiar or unfamiliar internal, external, or functional properties about known and unknown target animals. Children were…

The development of a diachronic conception of biology has rarely been explored during childhood, except by Maurice-Naville and Montangero (1992). The aim of the present study was to further explore this issue. In the course of an interview, 163 children aged between 6 and 11 expressed their diachronic conceptions of the growth and death of several…

A pupil's ability to identify common organisms is necessary for acquiring further knowledge of biology. We investigated how pupils were able to identify 25 bird species following their song, growth habits, or both features presented simultaneously. Just about 19% of birds were successfully identified by song, about 39% by growth habit, and 45% of…

Each year the members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee identify recent research findings that made the most impact on the field. For the 2009 Summary of Advances, the IACC selected and summarized 20 studies that gave significant insight into the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the biology of the disorder, potential…

In three experiments, children were asked whether animals, plants, and artifacts that had been damaged could heal through regrowth and whether a person could mend them. Four-year olds realized that both animals and plants could regrow and that artifacts had to be fixed by humans. Three-year olds were less knowledgeable than four-year olds. (MDM)

A survey of 244 British university undergraduates in biology, computer science, and English investigated attitudes about various uses of animals, including killing animals to make luxury clothing, killing of animals for food, general and medical research using animals, and captivity. Response differences by discipline, gender, and age were also…