The study aimed at investigating how first and third grade high
school students of a public school, which is situated in a social context of
strong religious influences, apprehend scientific explanations for the origin of
universe and origin of living beings. The methodology of the Collective Subject
Discourse (DSC) and the concept of social representation were used. Not only
did the results reveal the strong presence of religious explanations for the
investigated themes, but also its notable permanence throughout the two
grades. We were able to analyze the subjective aspect of student adherence to
religious precepts as well as focus the action of social factors that influence
students’ learning. Social representations revealed their straight connections


with the social world in which they were produced and the school showed to be
an apathetic institution before the social complexity that surrounds its
students. On the other hand, it was possible to identify signs of students’
openness to acceptation of scientific explanations, as their present convictions
did not seem to be absolute or irreversible. However, an educational approach
that takes into consideration these students’ social reality and which acts upon
it seems to be a mandatory condition in order to the accomplishment of
science contents learning.