共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
Pretests and posttests on the topic of evolution by natural selection were administered to students in a college nonmajors' biology course. Analysis of test responses revealed that most students understood evolution as a process in which species respond to environmental conditions by changing gradually over time. Student thinking differed from accepted biological theory in that (a) changes in traits were attributed to a need-driven adaptive process rather than random genetic mutation and sexual recombination, (b) no role was assigned to variation on traits within a population or differences in reproductive success, and (c) traits were seen as gradually changing in all members of a population. Although students had taken an average of 1.9 years of previous biology courses, performance on the pretest was uniformly low. There was no relationship between the amount of previous biology taken and either pretest or posttest performance. Belief in the truthfulness of evolutionary theory was also unrelated to either pretest or posttest performance. Course instruction using specially designed materials was moderately successful in improving students' understanding of the evolutionary process. 相似文献
2.
Steven T. Kalinowski Mary J. Leonard Tessa M. Andrews Andrea R. Litt 《CBE life sciences education》2013,12(3):483-493
Students in introductory biology courses frequently have misconceptions regarding natural selection. In this paper, we describe six activities that biology instructors can use to teach undergraduate students in introductory biology courses how natural selection causes evolution. These activities begin with a lesson introducing students to natural selection and also include discussions on sexual selection, molecular evolution, evolution of complex traits, and the evolution of behavior. The set of six topics gives students the opportunity to see how natural selection operates in a variety of contexts. Pre- and postinstruction testing showed students’ understanding of natural selection increased substantially after completing this series of learning activities. Testing throughout this unit showed steadily increasing student understanding, and surveys indicated students enjoyed the activities. 相似文献
3.
This study describes a lesson in which students engaged in inquiry in evolutionary biology in order to develop a better understanding of the concepts and reasoning skills necessary to support knowledge claims about changes in the genetic structure of populations, also known as microevolution. This paper describes how a software simulation called EVOLVE can be used to foster discussions about the conceptual knowledge used by advanced secondary or introductory college students when investigating the effects of natural selection on hypothetical populations over time. An experienced professor's use and rationale of a problem-based lesson using the simulation is examined. Examples of student misconceptions and naïve (incomplete) conceptions are described and an analysis of the procedural knowledge for experimenting with the computer model is provided. The results of this case study provide a model of how EVOLVE can be used to engage students in a complex problem-solving experience that encourages student meta-cognitive reflection about their understanding of evolution at the population level. Implications for teaching are provided and ways to improve student learning and problem solving in population genetics are suggested. 相似文献
4.
Research in the teaching and learning of evolutionary biology has revealed persistent difficulties in student understanding of fundamental Darwinian concepts. These difficulties may be traced, in part, to science instruction that is based on philosophical conceptions of science that are no longer viewed as adequately characterizing the diverse nature of scientific practice, especially in evolutionary biology. This mismatch between evolution as practiced and the nature of science as perceived by researchers and educators has a long history extending back to the publication of Darwin's theory of natural selection. An examination of how this theory was received by the scientific community of the time may provide insight into some of the difficulties that students have today in learning these important biological concepts. The primary difficulties center around issues of metaphysics and scientific method, aspects of the nature of science too often ignored in science education. Our intent is not to offer a specific course of action to remedy the problems educators currently face, but rather to suggest an alternative path one might take to eventually reach a solution. That path, we argue, should include the use of broader models of science that incorporate these elements of scientific practice to structure teaching and education research in evolution. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 1069–1089, 1998 相似文献
5.
Natural selection as a mechanism of evolution is a central concept in biology; yet, most nonbiology‐majors do not thoroughly understand the theory even after instruction. Many alternative conceptions on this topic have been identified, indicating that the job of the instructor is a difficult one. This article presents a new diagnostic test to assess students' understanding of natural selection. The test items are based on actual scientific studies of natural selection, whereas previous tests have employed hypothetical situations that were often misleading or oversimplified. The Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) is a 20‐item multiple choice test that employs common alternative conceptions as distractors. An original 12‐item version of the test was field‐tested with 170 nonmajors in 6 classes and 43 biology majors in 1 class at 3 community colleges. The test scores of one subset of nonmajors (n = 7) were compared with the students' performances in semistructured interviews. There was a positive correlation between the test scores and the interview scores. The current 20‐item version of the CINS was field‐tested with 206 students in a nonmajors' general biology course. The face validity, internal validity, reliability, and readability of the CINS are discussed. Results indicate that the CINS will be a valuable tool for instructors. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 952–978, 2002 相似文献
6.
Understanding randomness and its impact on student learning: lessons learned from building the Biology Concept Inventory (BCI) 
下载免费PDF全文
下载免费PDF全文 While researching student assumptions for the development of the Biology Concept Inventory (BCI; http://bioliteracy.net), we found that a wide class of student difficulties in molecular and evolutionary biology appears to be based on deep-seated, and often unaddressed, misconceptions about random processes. Data were based on more than 500 open-ended (primarily) college student responses, submitted online and analyzed through our Ed's Tools system, together with 28 thematic and think-aloud interviews with students, and the responses of students in introductory and advanced courses to questions on the BCI. Students believe that random processes are inefficient, whereas biological systems are very efficient. They are therefore quick to propose their own rational explanations for various processes, from diffusion to evolution. These rational explanations almost always make recourse to a driver, e.g., natural selection in evolution or concentration gradients in molecular biology, with the process taking place only when the driver is present, and ceasing when the driver is absent. For example, most students believe that diffusion only takes place when there is a concentration gradient, and that the mutational processes that change organisms occur only in response to natural selection pressures. An understanding that random processes take place all the time and can give rise to complex and often counterintuitive behaviors is almost totally absent. Even students who have had advanced or college physics, and can discuss diffusion correctly in that context, cannot make the transfer to biological processes, and passing through multiple conventional biology courses appears to have little effect on their underlying beliefs. 相似文献
7.
Students in a college nonscience majors' biology course took tests designed to reveal their conceptions of respiration and photosynthesis before and after course instruction. Even though most students had taken at least a full year of biology, serious misconceptions persisted. Most students gave definitions of respiration, photosynthesis, and food which were markedly different from those generally accepted by biologists. These incorrect definitions were associated with more fundamental misunderstandings about how plants and animals function. Most students could not explain how animal cells use either food or oxygen. They understood plants as vaguely analogous to animals, taking in food through their roots instead of mouths. Previous biology instruction seemed neither to improve student performance on the pretest nor to prepare them to master these conceptions during the course. Course instruction did improve student's understanding, but misconceptions persisted for many students. These results raise fundamental questions about the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction in current high school and college biology courses. 相似文献
8.
This article explores the effectiveness of intervention discussion sections for a college general chemistry course designed to apply research on student preconceptions, knowledge integration, and student explanation. Two interventions, on bond energy and spontaneity, were tested and intervention student performance was compared with that of a control group that did not use the experimental pedagogy. Results indicate that this instruction, which identifies students' initial conceptions and integrates those ideas into class discussion, leads to enhanced conceptual understanding. The intervention group outperformed the control group on a written course midterm, the thermodynamics portion of a standardized American Chemical Society examination, and an in‐depth interview. In interviews, the intervention group students explained the energetics of bond breaking and formation at a more sophisticated level than did the control students. In contrast, control students were more tenuous in their thinking, tended to contradict themselves more when discussing bond energy, and harbored more misconceptions about spontaneity. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 464–496, 2002 相似文献
9.
Kathryn E. Perez Anna Hiatt Gregory K. Davis Caleb Trujillo Donald P. French Mark Terry Rebecca M. Price 《CBE life sciences education》2013,12(4):665-675
The American Association for the Advancement of Science 2011 report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education encourages the teaching of developmental biology as an important part of teaching evolution. Recently, however, we found that biology majors often lack the developmental knowledge needed to understand evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo-devo.” To assist in efforts to improve evo-devo instruction among undergraduate biology majors, we designed a concept inventory (CI) for evolutionary developmental biology, the EvoDevoCI. The CI measures student understanding of six core evo-devo concepts using four scenarios and 11 multiple-choice items, all inspired by authentic scientific examples. Distracters were designed to represent the common conceptual difficulties students have with each evo-devo concept. The tool was validated by experts and administered at four institutions to 1191 students during preliminary (n = 652) and final (n = 539) field trials. We used student responses to evaluate the readability, difficulty, discriminability, validity, and reliability of the EvoDevoCI, which included items ranging in difficulty from 0.22–0.55 and in discriminability from 0.19–0.38. Such measures suggest the EvoDevoCI is an effective tool for assessing student understanding of evo-devo concepts and the prevalence of associated common conceptual difficulties among both novice and advanced undergraduate biology majors. 相似文献
10.
Cognitive foundations for science assessment design: Knowing what students know about evolution 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
To improve assessments of academic achievement, test developers have been urged to use an “assessment triangle” that starts with research‐based models of cognition and learning [NRC (2001) Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press]. This approach has been successful in designing high‐quality reading and math assessments, but less progress has been made for assessments in content‐rich sciences such as biology. To rectify this situation, we applied the “assessment triangle” to design and evaluate new items for an instrument (ACORNS, Assessing Contextual Reasoning about Natural Selection) that had been proposed to assess students' use of natural selection to explain evolutionary change. Design and scoring of items was explicitly guided by a cognitive model that reflected four psychological principles: with development of expertise, (1) core concepts facilitate long‐term recall, (2) causally‐central features become weighted more strongly in explaining phenomena, (3) normative ideas co‐exist but increasingly outcompete naive ideas in reasoning, and (4) knowledge becomes more abstract and less specific to the learning situation. We conducted an evaluation study with 320 students to examine whether scores from our new ACORNS items could detect gradations of expertise, provide insight into thinking about evolutionary change, and predict teachers' assessments of student achievement. Findings were consistent with our cognitive model, and ACORNS was revealing about undergraduates' thinking about evolutionary change. Results indicated that (1) causally‐central concepts of evolution by natural selection typically co‐existed and competed with the presence of naïve ideas in all students' explanations, with naïve ideas being especially prevalent in low‐performers' explanations; (2) causally‐central concepts were elicited most frequently when students were asked to explain evolution of animals and familiar plants, with influence of superficial features being strongest for low‐performers; and (3) ACORNS scores accurately predicted students' later achievement in a college‐level evolution course. Together, findings illustrate usefulness of cognitive models in designing instruments intended to capture students' developing expertise. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 744–777, 2012 相似文献
11.
Computational thinking (CT) is a way of making sense of the natural world and problem solving with computer science concepts and skills. Although CT and science integrations have been called for in the literature, empirical investigations of such integrations are lacking. Prior work in natural selection education indicates students struggle to explain natural selection in different contexts and natural selection misconceptions are common. In this mixed methods study, secondary honors biology students learn natural selection through CT by engaging in the design of unplugged algorithmic explanations. Students learned CT principles and practices and applied them to learn and explain the natural selection process. Algorithmic explanations were used to scaffold transfer of natural selection knowledge across contexts through investigation of three organisms and the creation of generalized natural selection algorithms. Students' pre- and post-unit algorithmic explanations of natural selection were analyzed to answer the following research questions: (a) How do students' conceptions of natural selection change over the course of a CT focused unit? (b) What is the relationship between CT and natural selection in students' algorithmic explanations? (c) What are students' perspectives of learning natural selection with CT? Results indicate students' conceptions of natural selection increased and natural selection misconceptions decreased over the course of the unit. Within their post-unit algorithmic explanations, students used specific CT principles in conjunction with natural selection concepts to explain natural selection, which helped them to learn the details of the natural selection process and correct their natural selection misconceptions. Students indicated the use of CT in unplugged algorithmic explanations in different contexts helped them learn natural selection. This study shows unplugged CT can be used to teach students science content, and it provides an example for further CT and science integrations. Implications for the field are discussed. 相似文献
12.
A large body of research has examined students' conceptions of evolution and their relationships to acceptance of evolution. Proficiency in statistical and probabilistic reasoning has long been considered to be an essential feature of evolutionary reasoning, yet almost no empirical work has explored these putative connections. The RaPro instruments have recently been developed to measure statistical reasoning in the contexts of mathematics (RaProMath) and evolution (RaProEvo). Our study provides additional validation of these instruments using Rasch analysis and quantifies the contribution of statistical reasoning to both understanding and accepting evolution. We recruited a large sample (N = 564) of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory biology course at a large public research university in the United States. Students completed a suite of published instruments that assessed statistical reasoning, evolutionary understanding, and evolutionary acceptance. Our findings indicate that validity inferences derived from RaPro scores generalized to the new sample, and that proficiency in statistical reasoning explained 28% of the variance in evolutionary knowledge and 19% of the variation in evolutionary acceptance. The inclusion of demographic variables into the model significantly increased the explained variance in acceptance. Notably, the variance in evolution acceptance explained by statistical reasoning was comparable to that of thinking dispositions or evolutionary knowledge reported in the literature. This work provides the first large-scale evidence of the role of statistical reasoning in evolutionary knowledge and acceptance and motivates future work to explore how statistical literacy should be integrated into evolution education efforts. 相似文献
13.
We present a multiple-choice test, the Montana State University Formal Reasoning Test (FORT), to assess college students' scientific reasoning ability. The test defines scientific reasoning to be equivalent to formal operational reasoning. It contains 20 questions divided evenly among five types of problems: control of variables, hypothesis testing, correlational reasoning, proportional reasoning, and probability. The test development process included the drafting and psychometric analysis of 23 instruments related to formal operational reasoning. These instruments were administered to almost 10,000 students enrolled in introductory science courses at American universities. Questions with high discrimination were identified and assembled into an instrument that was intended to measure the reasoning ability of students across the entire spectrum of abilities in college science courses. We present four types of validity evidence for the FORT. (a) The test has a one-dimensional psychometric structure consistent with its design. (b) Test scores in an introductory biology course had an empirical reliability of 0.82. (c) Student interviews confirmed responses to the FORT were accurate indications of student thinking. (d) A regression analysis of student learning in an introductory biology course showed that scores on the FORT predicted how well students learned one of the most challenging concepts in biology, natural selection. 相似文献
14.
Jonathan Dees Jennifer L. Momsen Jarad Niemi Lisa Montplaisir 《CBE life sciences education》2014,13(4):666-676
Phylogenetic trees are widely used visual representations in the biological sciences and the most important visual representations in evolutionary biology. Therefore, phylogenetic trees have also become an important component of biology education. We sought to characterize reasoning used by introductory biology students in interpreting taxa relatedness on phylogenetic trees, to measure the prevalence of correct taxa-relatedness interpretations, and to determine how student reasoning and correctness change in response to instruction and over time. Counting synapomorphies and nodes between taxa were the most common forms of incorrect reasoning, which presents a pedagogical dilemma concerning labeled synapomorphies on phylogenetic trees. Students also independently generated an alternative form of correct reasoning using monophyletic groups, the use of which decreased in popularity over time. Approximately half of all students were able to correctly interpret taxa relatedness on phylogenetic trees, and many memorized correct reasoning without understanding its application. Broad initial instruction that allowed students to generate inferences on their own contributed very little to phylogenetic tree understanding, while targeted instruction on evolutionary relationships improved understanding to some extent. Phylogenetic trees, which can directly affect student understanding of evolution, appear to offer introductory biology instructors a formidable pedagogical challenge. 相似文献
15.
Anna Hiatt Gregory K. Davis Caleb Trujillo Mark Terry Donald P. French Rebecca M. Price Kathryn E. Perez 《CBE life sciences education》2013,12(3):494-508
To examine how well biology majors have achieved the necessary foundation in evolution, numerous studies have examined how students learn natural selection. However, no studies to date have examined how students learn developmental aspects of evolution (evo-devo). Although evo-devo plays an increasing role in undergraduate biology curricula, we find that instruction often addresses development cursorily, with most of the treatment embedded within instruction on evolution. Based on results of surveys and interviews with students, we suggest that teaching core concepts (CCs) within a framework that integrates supporting concepts (SCs) from both evolutionary and developmental biology can improve evo-devo instruction. We articulate CCs, SCs, and foundational concepts (FCs) that provide an integrative framework to help students master evo-devo concepts and to help educators address specific conceptual difficulties their students have with evo-devo. We then identify the difficulties that undergraduates have with these concepts. Most of these difficulties are of two types: those that are ubiquitous among students in all areas of biology and those that stem from an inadequate understanding of FCs from developmental, cell, and molecular biology. 相似文献
16.
17.
D. Anxolabéhère N. Bernard‐Daugeras C. Favard‐Séréno J. Fiszer M. Lauthier G. Périquet 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(4):377-394
Summaries English At the O.P.E. Laboratory, computer‐based biology dialogues result in a new pedagogical situation which could not be achieved by any other method. This paper describes part of O.P.E. embryology dialogues, designed for undergraduate medical and biology students, and concerning interactions between inductive and competent tissues during embryonic development. Each student using these dialogues is in a position to proceed, in an active manner, through three principal stages in the knowledge of the competence concept: determination of experimental criteria of a state of competence; analysis of evolution of competence in course of time; detection of modifications of competence of a tissue towards sequential inductors. In the course of the dialogue, each student has to interpret various experimental results, verify hypotheses and conduct in his own way a series of simulated experiments (students have no other chance of carrying out this kind of embryology experiment). The validity of the student's reasoning and his experimental methodology are constantly controlled. These computer‐based biology dialogues are not intended to supersede other pedagogical activities. They are designed to be a new and specific contribution to comprehension, mastery, and even modelling, of biological concepts and mechanisms, and appear to meet actual requirements of biology education. 相似文献
18.
This study examined age differences in young people's understanding of evolution theory in secondary school. A second aim of this study was to propose a new coding scheme that more accurately described students’ conceptual understanding about evolutionary theory. We argue that coding schemes adopted in previous research may have overestimated students’ grasp of evolutionary concepts. A total of 106 students aged 12, 14, and 16 took part in individual interviews investigating their understanding of evolution. Using the new coding scheme, we found that while 16‐year olds were more likely than 12‐year olds to endorse scientific concepts when answering a question about finches, their understanding of natural selection, however, did not generalize to the other four questions. Furthermore, students began to incorporate relevant terminology (e.g., adapt, evolve, etc.) and structure their explanations using relevant language at around age 14. Students often used relevant terminology without having a more advanced understanding of evolutionary theory. Instead, they used the relevant terms in a colloquial rather than a scientific sense. Implications of the current findings for teaching and theory are discussed. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of National Association for Research in Science Teaching. J Res Sci Teach 54: 247–273, 2017 相似文献
19.
Students in three sections of a high school biology course were taught a unit on evolution and natural selection. Prior to instruction, students were pretested to determine their (a) reflective reasoning skill, (b) strength of religious commitment, (c) prior declarative knowledge of evolution and natural selection, and (d) beliefs in evolution or special creation and related religiously oriented beliefs. Following instruction the measures of declarative knowledge and beliefs were readministered. The study was designed to test (a) the hypothesis that the acquisition of domain-specific concepts and the modification of nonscientific beliefs largely depends upon reflective reasoning skill, not prior declarative knowledge; and (b) the hypothesis that strength of religious commitment and a belief in special creation hinder the acquisition of scientific beliefs. Although instruction produced no overall shift toward a belief in evolution, as predicted, reflective reasoning skill was significantly related to initial scientific beliefs, and reflective reasoning skill, but not prior declarative knowledge, was significantly related to gains in declarative knowledge. Reflective reasoning skill, however, was not significantly related to changes in beliefs. Also as predicted, strength of religious commitment was negatively correlated with initial belief in evolution and with a change in belief toward evolution. Interrelationships among the study's major variables, as well as educational implications, are discussed. 相似文献
20.
Nelio Marco Vincenzo Bizzo 《科学教学研究杂志》1994,31(5):537-556
Evolution is considered an essential topic that brings to school a broader perspective of natural phenomena and of the nature of science. Most if not all research has shown that the result of the teaching of evolutionary theories is not positive in different parts of the world. Some have attributed the poor understanding shown by students to teaching style or to students' cognitive abilities. This article reports results of interviews and tests carried out with students after they had been taught the topic of evolution. By adopting a sociocultural perspective, before terming students' views “misconceptions,” attention was given to several different ways Charles Darwin's theories have been re-interpreted by well-known scholars and offered to the public. I have analyzed the approaches taken by Emanuel Radl (1873-1942), John C. Greene, Robert Maxwell Young, and Ernst Mayr to assess the diverse ways Darwinism has been conceived. Attention was also given to the presentation of this controversial knowledge to the public in two major popular books written by respected scientists, Huxley and Kettlewell's Darwin and His World (1975) and Richard Dawkins' more recent The Blind Watchmaker (1989). These analyses revealed remarkable differences between what was written in Downe (Kent) a hundred years ago and what was heard at Sao Paulo (Brazil) nowadays. Students show very poor understanding of evolutionary theories. Their conceptions reveal evolution has been primarily related to the human species. Its meaning is understood as similar to progress, growth, multiplication, and improvement. Biological and cultural evolution are not clearly distinguished. Competition is misunderstood as pure violence, sometimes inevitable, and adaptation is considered an individual process that occurs during the organism's life span. Educational change may not depend just on teaching style and students' cognitive abilities. Modification of factual knowledge and epistemological gaps may be the result of a process of social reconceptualization of knowledge offered to students. 相似文献