Citation:
Brenda Phillips, Margaret Evans, Michael Horn, Florian Block, Judy Diamond, and Chia Shen. 4/18/2013. “How is a human like a banana? Conceptions of humans as part of the natural world.” In Poster presented at the 2013 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. In J. Coley (Chair), Intuitive Concepts Versus Biological Science: The Case of Evolution, Seattle, Washington. Washington State Convention Center & Seattle Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Abstract:
In a study of 8-to-15-year-old visitors (N = 250) to two large natural history museums, weinvestigated the broader implications of visitors' conception of "human as animal."
Professional biologists include humans in the "tree of life”, which also includes less visible
members of the living world: plants, fungi, and microscopic organisms. Are youth who
acknowledge this common ancestry more likely to feel part of the natural world? Results
suggest that youth who indicated that humans share a common ancestor with other species
were better informed regarding core evolutionary concepts and were more likely to feel
related to all life on Earth
See also: Publications and Presentations
