Much has been written and debated on the importance of including moral, character or values education in school curricula. In line with this, teachers' views with regard to values education have often been sought. However, a search into the literature on values in science education has revealed little on this domain. In an attempt to close this…

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…