Attitudes d'élèves tunisiens par rapport à l'évolution biologique / Attitudes of tunisian pupils to biologigical evolution

Attitudes of tunisian pupils to biologigical evolution This paper presents a study of the relation pupils in Tunisia in the fourth year of secondary education (preparation for the baccalaureate) have to biological evolution. The objectives are, on the one hand to improve knowledge of their learning postures towards the theory of evolution, and on the other to analyse the eventual correlations between their attitudes in school and their relation to knowledge. The working hypothesis is that it is through the explanatory level mobilised by the pupils that they read, analyse, evaluate and judge the theory of evolution. An enquiry was carried out among 78 students from classes in two Tunisian lyceums using questionnaires. It led to an appreciation of the attitudes towards school and learning whilst the results on the relation towards biological evolution contribute to the analysis of the students’ learning posture for this branch of biology. The analysis also shows a correlation between the relation to knowledge of the Tunisian pupils, the way in which they conceive learning biological evolution and the meaning they attribute to the model explaining the theory of evolution.