Exploring students’ understanding of evolutionary biology through large-scale national university entrance examinations

Evolutionary biology is essential in science education, yet students often struggle with basic principles due to misconceptions and sociocultural influences. This study investigates Brazilian high school students’ understanding of evolutionary biology using big data from the National High School Examination (ENEM). We aimed to identify changes in comprehension over time, detect prevalent misconceptions, and analyse the association of socioeconomic and cultural variables. We examined over 150 million responses to 66 questions administered across 26 years, employing descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results revealed very low comprehension (27.9%) and frequent reliance on intuitive reasoning, especially Lamarckian and progressivist thinking. School type was significantly associated with performance, highlighting the role of educational quality and access to resources. Despite this, even private school students showed limited understanding. Religiosity and scientific reading habit were also associated with scores, with less religious students and scientific readers scoring higher. Religious affiliation also appeared important, given substantial differences between some groups. However, multivariate logistic regression showed these variables had only modest discriminative power, indicating other contributing factors. These findings emphasise the urgent need for curricular reforms, improved teacher training, continuing education, and more engaging, conceptually grounded instructional strategies to correct misconceptions and enhance students’ understanding of evolution.