Table 6 Percentage of study respondents by age group mentioning identified themes within the evolutionary and intuitive reasoning patterns in their open-ended explanations
| Child n = 21 (%) | Youth n = 13 (%) | Adult n = 30 (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evolutionary reasoning themes | |||
| Evolution term | 48 | 92 | 90 |
| VIST term | 0 | 23 | 40 |
| Variation | 62 | 85 | 67 |
| Inheritance | 5 | 31 | 33 |
| Common descent | 19 | 62 | 67 |
| Selection | 19 | 54 | 60 |
| Time | 38 | 46 | 63 |
| Sexual selection | 10 | 15 | 40 |
| Ecological pressure | 48 | 62 | 80 |
| Intuitive reasoning themes | |||
| Desire based | 24 | 0 | 30 |
| Static adaptation | 86 | 85 | 87 |
| Adaptive features list | 67 | 54 | 73 |
| Goal-directed adaptation | 43 | 69 | 43 |
| Proximate cause | 67 | 62 | 60 |
| Reproduction | 57 | 31 | 33 |
| Hybridization | 33 | 15 | 3 |