The emergence of beliefs about the origins of species in school-age children

Two studies address children's emerging understanding of the origins of spe cies. Elementary-school children, aged 5-12 years, were interviewed about t heir understanding of biological origins and of natural history (Ns = 49 in Study 1; 83, with parents, in Study 2). A systematic developmental pattern in children's explanations for biological origins was demonstrated. There were age-related shifts from mixed creationist and spontaneous generationis t explanations, to an exclusive creationism, and finally to evolutionist or creationist explanations. A child's age, natural history knowledge, and pa rents' beliefs were independently related to the expression of these explan ations. It is argued that this developmental pattern emerges from the inter action between community beliefs and age-related changes in the inductive p otential of children's naive theories.