The construction of a conceptual profile of adaptation: methodological implications to the research program on conceptual profiles and to evolution teaching

Abstract

In this paper, we present the methodological path that resulted in the construction of a conceptual profile of adaptation. This was based on a dialogical examination of epistemological and historical sources, the literature on alternative conceptions, original data obtained through interviews and questionnaires applied to high school and higher education students, and the analysis of discursive interactions in high school and higher education biology classrooms. We intend to show how a profile model for the concept of adaptation was built based on this methodological path. This model presents four zones: intra-organic functionalism, providential adjustment, transformational perspective, and variational perspective. For each of these zones, we present a characterization in terms of the epistemological and ontological commitments framing distinct ways of thinking about the concept of adaptation. Finally, we analyze the implications of this study to the methodology of conceptual profile construction and to evolution teaching.