Abstract
This study examined explanations given by a sample of middle school students in India (175 students, grade 8, average age of 12.3 years), of the seemingly sudden appearance of some life forms observed in their day-to-day experience. It uncovered a variety of interesting ideas including, but not limited to, pre-Pasteur notions of some forms of life generating spontaneously from inorganic matter. We analyze these explanations for consistency of frameworks used by students to generate them and discuss them in light of the historical development of ideas on the generation of life. Given that students gave these explanations despite several years of formal instruction in biology, we look at how these ideas persisted despite formal instruction and present some qualitative insights on the treatment of this topic in their curriculum. We believe this study can be useful for curriculum developers and teachers who deal with biology education at the introductory level.
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