What Should be Mastered by Elementary, Junior and Senior High School Teachers Related to the Concept of Evolution?

Abstract

Content knowledge is one of the competencies to be mastered by a teacher. Teachers who master content thoroughly and understand the limitations in teaching content to students at different levels are professionals. Online interviews were conducted, and questionnaires were distributed to 9 participants consisting of 3 elementary school teachers, 3 junior high school science teachers, and 3 senior high school biology teachers. This qualitative research aimed to investigate the depth of evolution content that must be mastered by teachers at every level of elementary, junior, and senior high schools. The answers from the participants were analyzed qualitatively using a grounded theory research design. It is known that the three kinds of teachers have different depths of the evolution material from one to the others. Elementary school teachers should master the concept of evolution in the form of signs of an evolutionary process that can be found by students in everyday life. In addition to being required to master elementary school materials, junior high school teachers should master the theories of evolution as well. For senior high school teachers, they are required to have a wider and deeper mastery of the material that includes the meaning, theories, clues, and mechanism of evolution.