Teaching evolution in Chile. History of a conflict documented in textbooks of secondary education

Abstract

In this paper we analyzed the presence of the evolution in secondary education textbooks used en Chile since 1902 to 2003. Textbooks analysis of secondary education shows the disputes between evolutionisms and their opponents. Members of the clergy participated actively as antievolutionisms and several of the most outstanding evolutionisms were liberal and francmasones. The text of Bernardino Quijada marked a landmark and polarized to those in favor and detractors during half century. The evolutionary subject was reduced in second half of century XX, partly by the development of other biological fields, but also by ideological pressures of preservative religious sectors. During the last reforms, evolutionary theory oscillates between the compulsory and the optative contents of the programs of Chilean secondary education.

Keywords

• Textbooks analisis
• Darwinism
• Biology teaching