Evolution misconceptions in Roman Catholic high school students: A comparative study

This study investigated what types of misconceptions Roman Catholic (parochial) high school students from Los Angeles County, California, had in their religious beliefs and knowledge of biological evolution, how their evolution misconceptions compared with the evolution misconceptions of their public high school peers, and if religious misconceptions correlated with evolution misconceptions.;The results of this study indicated that parochial high school students were overall less likely to choose the correct response and more likely to choose a misconception on a biological evolution questionnaire compared to local public high school students. Additionally, this study revealed that almost one-third of the parochial high school students surveyed had a literal interpretation of the Bible, despite the fact that the Roman Catholic Church believes in a figurative interpretation. Parochial high school students with a literal interpretation of the Bible generally had more misconceptions about biological evolution than parochial students with a figurative interpretation.