Considering the great controversy on the theme "the origin of biological diversity" as well as its importance and scope to the life sciences, we wanted to assess and discuss the form in which students, that are about to accomplish high school in the city of Teresópolis (Rio de Janeiro), relate to the subject. Through a quantitative analysis, conducted through a structured questionnaire based on Likert scale, we sought to identify trends in the student's ways of thinking, whether evolutionists or creationists, drawing a parallel between the conceptions of students from both public and particular schools (secular and religious) in order to identify possible distinctions and similiarities between those socially and culturally different spheres.
Teaching evolution; Science and religion; Teaching of biology
