Curricular reform and inquiry teaching in biology: where are our efforts most fruitfully invested? (original) (raw)
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Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1996
This study assessed students' learning of evolution by natural selection within four different sections of an introductory biology course. Each section used a different combination of curricular materials (either traditional or historically rich materials) and instruction (either paired problem solving or traditional lecture). Students in the study completed pre-and postintervention evolution tests. Students' responses were analyzed to create variables for both correct and alternative conceptions of evolution. Pretest and posttest data were used to create difference scores that were compared both within and between teaching sections. Pre-to-post gains were expected in the correct (Darwinian Conception) scores, while pre-to-post losses were expected in the Alternative Conception scores. Also, students in the experimental sections were expected to perform better than those in the traditional sections. Pretest-to-posttest differences within each section showed gains in correct conceptions but few reductions in alternative conceptions. Comparisons between sections support the use of the paired problem-solving instructional strategy in conjunction with the historically rich curriculum.
Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2022
Comprehensive understanding of evolution is essential to full and meaningful engagement with issues facing societies today. Yet this understanding is challenged by lack of acceptance of evolution as well as misconceptions about how evolution works that persist even after student completion of college-level life science courses. Recent research has suggested that active learning strategies, a focus on science as process, and directly addressing misconceptions can improve students' understanding of evolution. This paper describes an innovative, inquiry-based laboratory curriculum for introductory biological anthropology employing these strategies that was implemented at West Chester University (WCU) in 2013-2016. The key objectives were to help students understand how biological anthropologists think about and explore problems using scientific approaches and to improve student understanding of evolution. Lab activities centered on scenarios that challenged students to solve problems using the scientific method in a process of guided inquiry. Some of these activities involved application of DNA techniques. Formative and summative learning assessments were implemented to measure progress toward the objectives. One of these, a pre-and postcourse evolution concepts survey, was administered at WCU (both before and after the implementation of the new curriculum) and at three other universities with more standard introductory biological anthropology curricula. Evolution survey results showed greater improvement in understanding from pre-to post-course scores for WCU students compared with students at the comparison universities (p < .001). WCU students who took the inquiry-based curriculum also had better understanding of evolution at the post-course period than WCU students who took the course prior to implementation of the new curriculum (p < .05). In-class clicker assessments demonstrated improved understanding of evolution concepts (p < .001) and scientific method (p < .05) over the course of individual labs. Two labs that involved applying DNA methods received the highest percentage ratings by students as 'very useful' to understanding important concepts of evolution and human variation. WCU student ratings of their confidence in using the scientific method showed greater improvement pre-to post-course during the study period as compared with the earlier, pre-implementation period (p < .05). The student-centered biological anthropology laboratory curriculum
Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2012
Students in a large introductory biology course at Flinders University, South Australia, were quizzed on misconceptions relating to evolution and their acceptance of evolutionary theory before and after completing the course. By providing students with a course featuring a multifaceted approach to learning about evolution, students improved their understanding and decreased their overall misconceptions. A variety of instructional methods and assessment tools were utilized in the course, and it employed an active and historically rich pedagogical approach. Although student learning and understanding of evolutionary theory improved throughout the course, it did not alter the beliefs of students who commented both before and after the course that religious theories provided adequate explanation for the diversity of life. Interestingly, students who maintained this belief scored more poorly on the final examination than students who considered evolution as the best explanation for the diversity of life.
Teaching evolution in higher education
Evolution, 2002
In the past decade, the academic community has increased considerably its activity concerning the teaching and learning of evolution. Despite such beneficial activity, the state of public understanding of evolution is considered woefully lacking by most researchers and educators. This lack of understanding affects evolution/science literacy, research, and academia in general. Not only does the general public lack an understanding of evolution but so does a considerable proportion of college graduates. However, it is not just evolutionary concepts that students do not retain. In general, college students retain little of what they supposedly have learned. Worse yet, it is not just students who have avoided science and math who fail to retain fundamental science concepts. Students who have had extensive secondary-level and college courses in science have similar deficits. We examine these issues and explore what distinguishes effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher education in general and evolution education in particular. The fundamental problem of students' prior conceptions is considered and why prior conceptions often underpin students' misunderstanding of the evolutionary concepts being taught. These conceptions can often be discovered and addressed. We also attend to concerns about coverage of course content and the influence of religious beliefs, and provide helpful strategies to improve college-level teaching of evolution.
High School Students' Ideas About Theories and Theory Change After a Biological Inquiry Unit
Journal of Research in Science …, 2003
Students' epistemological beliefs about scientific knowledge and practice are one important influence on their approach to learning. This article explores the effects that students' inquiry during a 4-week technology-supported unit on evolution and natural selection had on their beliefs about the nature of science. Before and after the study, 8 students were interviewed using the Nature of Science interview developed by Carey and colleagues. Overall, students held a view of science as a search for right answers about the world. Yet, the inconsistency of individuals' responses undermines the assumption that students have stable, coherent epistemological frameworks. Students' expressed ideas did not change over the course of the intervention, suggesting important differences between students' talk during inquiry and their abilities to talk epistemologically about science. Combined with previous work, our findings emphasize the crucial role of an explicit epistemic discourse in developing students' epistemological understanding.
A course in evolutionary biology: Engaging students in the" practice" of evolution
2000
Science is a university-based research center focusing on K-12 mathematics and science education. Center researchers collaborate with schools and teachers to create and study instructional approaches that support and improve student understanding of mathematics and science. Based on current research, the Center seeks to identify new professional development models and ways that schools can support teacher professional development and student learning. is a professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a researcher at the NCISLA, his interests include student understanding of scientific models and modeling, assessing students' progress in scientific understanding, teacher professional development, and K-12 students' reasoning and communication about variation and change in populations.
Evolution Education Re-considered, 2019
Science practices play a central role in meaningful learning. We transformed a college introductory biology course to more practice-based learning environment, in which students constructed knowledge about evolution through explanation and argumentation. These practices, also known as mechanistic reasoning, are a form of scientific inquiry characterized in part by a shift toward reasoning about causal mechanisms. We posit that engaging in these practices may promote a cognitive and social approach to evolution, thereby engaging affective and logic-driven pathways to students' evolution acceptance. In the intervention, we integrated multiple activities and technological tools to foster students' explanatory, mechanistic reasoning. This approach was inspired in part by Robbins and Roy (2007) inquiry-based teaching unit that yielded improvements in college students' explanations and acceptance of evolution. In particular, our investigation promoted sense making, evaluating, argumentation, and consensus building while providing rich, meaningful learning about natural selection. This data-driven strategy engaged students in evolutionary phenomena directly, another avenue to promoting conceptual change. This chapter presents results across a spectrum of evolution literacy components, including (1) conceptual change around natural selection, (2) mechanistic reasoning related to natural selection, and (3) engagement in argumentation around data.
This study investigated eighty junior and senior college students' understanding of evolutionary biology concepts in lecture-only and lecture-laboratory settings. The evolution lab stressed the processes of evolution, and involved simulations, experiments, discussions, report writing, and reading. Test scores do not reveal everything about the actual process of learning in the laboratory. This study examined conceptual change patterns over a period of one semester using in-depth interviews with eight participants. This study revealed that the lecture-laboratory group performed better than the lecture-only group on certain shared items on the objective examination. The interview participants showed various patterns of conceptual change; that is, holistic (wholesale and cascade), fragmented, and dual constructions. Dual constructions and wholesale conceptual changes were the most common types of conceptual change patterns observed. Laboratory work in evolution allowed students to grapple with their alternative conceptions for abstract evolutionary concepts. They made use of the opportunities for cognitive conflict provided by the lab sessions. Some students adhered to their initial alternative conceptions which constrained the provision of scientific explanations for the biological problems. Examples of alternative conceptions are a young earth, rejection of macroevolution, and Lamarckian conceptions. The belief system of one student strongly influenced her retention of alternative conceptions, although she had done the laboratory course. However, two other students (one a lecture-lab participant) who held similar religious beliefs were x Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. able to develop a better understanding of evolution. Strong religious beliefs do not always preclude a good understanding of evolution. This study revealed a direct, positive relationship between students' understanding of evolutionary concepts and their understanding of the nature of science. The observation was true for both lecture-only and lecture-lab groups.
Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2014
Background: Research has revealed that high school students matriculate to college holding misconceptions related to biological evolution. These misconceptions interfere with students' abilities to grasp accurate scientific explanations and serve as fundamental barriers to understanding evolution. Because the scientific community regards evolution as a vital part of science education, it is imperative that students' misconceptions are identified and their sources revealed. The purpose of this study was to identify the types and prevalence of biological evolution-related misconceptions held by high school biology teachers and their students, and to identify those factors that contribute to student acquisition of such misconceptions, with particular emphasis given to the role of the teacher. Methods: Thirty-five teachers who taught at least one section of Biology I during the 2010 to 2011 academic year in one of 32 Oklahoma public high schools and their respective 536 students served as this study's unit of analysis. The Biological Evolution Literacy Survey, which possesses 23 biological evolution misconception statements grouped into five categories, served as the research tool for identifying teachers' misconceptions prior to student instruction and students' misconceptions both prior to and following instruction in biological evolution concepts, calculating conception index scores, and collecting demographic data. Multiple statistical analyses were performed to identify statistically significant (p < .05) relationships between variables related to student's acquisition of biological evolution-related misconceptions.
Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 2014
Science educators and administrators support the idea that inquiry-based and didactic-based instructional strategies have varying effects on students' acquisition of science concepts. The research problem addressed whether incorporating the two approaches covered the learning requirements of all students in science classes, enabling them to meet state and national standards. The optimal teaching method, didactic (teacher-directed), inquiry-based, or a combination of two approaches instructional method, becomes essential if students are to discover ways to learn information. Locally, the results indicated greater and statistically significant differences in standardized laboratory scores for students who were taught using the combination of two approaches. Based on these results, biology instructors will gain new insights into ways of improving the instructional process. Social change may occur as the science curriculum leadership applies the combination of two instructional approaches to improve acquisition of science concepts by biology students.