Understanding Students’ Perceptions of the Nature of Science in the Context of Their Gender and Their Parents’ Occupation

Science & Education - A thorough understanding of the concept of the nature of science (NOS) is essential to the development of scientific literacy among students, as it provides the students...     

Exploring Middle School Students’ Understanding of Three Conceptual Models in Genetics

Genetics is the cornerstone of modern biology and a critical aspect of scientific literacy. Research has shown, however, that many high school graduates lack fundamental understandings in genetics necessary to make informed decisions about issues and emerging technologies in this domain, such as genetic screening, genetically modified foods, etc. Genetic literacy entails understanding three interrelated models: a genetic model that describes patterns of genetic inheritance, a meiotic model that describes the process by which genes are segregated into sex cells, and a molecular model that describes the mechanisms that link genotypes to phenotypes within an individual. Currently, much of genetics instruction, especially in terms of the molecular model, occurs at the high school level, and we know little about the ways in which middle school students can reason about these models. Furthermore, we do not know the extent to which carefully designed instruction can help younger students develop coherent and interrelated understandings in genetics. In this paper, we discuss a research study aimed at elucidating middle school students’ abilities to reason about the three genetic models. As part of our research, we designed an eight-week inquiry unit that was implemented in a combined sixth- to eighth-grade science classroom. We describe our instructional design and report results based on an analysis of written assessments, clinical interviews, and artifacts of the unit. Our findings suggest that middle school students are able to successfully reason about all three genetic models.     

Students’ Views of Nature of Science

Science & Education - Nature of science (NOS) is considered an important aspect of scientific literacy. Despite efforts in guiding school students to develop more adequate NOS views, little is...     

An Investigation into the Relationship between Students’ Conceptions of the Particulate Nature of Matter and their Understanding of Chemical Bonding

A thorough understanding of chemical bonding requires familiarity with the particulate nature of matter. In this study, a two‐tier multiple‐choice diagnostic instrument consisting of ten items (five items involving each of the two concepts) was developed to assess students’ understanding of the particulate nature of matter and chemical bonding so as to identify possible associations between students’ understandings of the two concepts. The instrument was administered to 260 Grades 9 and 10 students (15–16 years old) from a secondary school in Singapore. Analysis of students’ responses revealed several alternative conceptions about the two concepts. In addition, analysis of six pairs of items suggested that students’ limited understanding of the particulate nature of matter influenced their understanding of chemical bonding. The findings provide useful information for challenging students’ alternative conceptions about the particulate nature of matter during classroom instruction in order to enable them to achieve better understanding of chemical bonding.     

High School Students’ Understanding of the Human Body System

In this study, 120 tenth-grade students from 8 schools were examined to determine the extent of their ability to perceive the human body as a system after completing the first stage in their biology curriculum - “The human body, emphasizing homeostasis”. The students’ systems thinking was analyzed according to the STH thinking model, which roughly divides it into three main levels that are arranged “pyramid” style, in an ascending order of difficulty: 1. Analysis of system components—the ability to identify the components and processes existing in the human body system; 2. Synthesis of system components—ability to identify dynamic relations within the system; 3. Implementation—ability to generalize and identify patterns in the system, and to identify its hidden dimensions. The students in this study proved largely incapable of achieving systems thinking beyond the primary STH level of identifying components. An overwhelming majority if their responses corresponded to this level of the STH model, further indicating a pronounced favoring of structure over process, and of larger, macro elements over microscopic ones.     

Challenging Students’ Belief in the ‘Balance of Nature’ Idea

Science & Education - This article reports on the theoretical output of a design research study, which concerns the design of a learning environment (LE) for helping students challenge the...     

University Students’ Understanding of Electromagnetic Induction

This study examined engineering and physical science students' understanding of the electromagnetic induction (EMI) phenomena. It is assumed that significant knowledge of the EMI theory is a basic prerequisite when students have to think about electromagnetic phenomena. To analyse students' conceptions, we have taken into account the fact that individuals build mental representations to help them understand how a physical system works. Individuals use these representations to explain reality, depending on the context and the contents involved. Therefore, we have designed a questionnaire with an emphasis on explanations and an interview, so as to analyse students' reasoning. We found that most of the students failed to distinguish between macroscopic levels described in terms of fields and microscopic levels described in terms of the actions of fields. It is concluded that although the questionnaire and interviews involved a limited range of phenomena, the identified explanations fall into three main categories that can provide information for curriculum development by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of students' conceptions.     

University Students’ Understanding of Chemical Thermodynamics

This study explored undergraduate students’ understanding of the chemistry topic of thermodynamics using a 4-tier diagnostic instrument, comprising 30 questions, and follow-up interviews. An additional objective of the study was to assess the utility of the 4-tier instrument for use in studies on alternative conceptions (ACs) as there has been no study done on it since its introduction in the literature in the year 2010. A total of 296 students majoring in Chemistry at a university in Singapore participated in this study—88 students in the preliminary study, 102 students in the pilot study and 106 students in the main study. This article reports on the results obtained with students in the main study; their age ranges from 20 to 22 years. Comprising answer and reason tiers plus associated confidence ratings, the 4-tier diagnostic instrument enabled the eliciting of 34 ACs harbored by the undergraduates as well as the strengths of these ACs. Of concern to note is that even for questions which were answered correctly, the mean confidence was not very high. The results of this study reiterate the point that thermodynamics is a topic fraught with conceptual difficulties and ACs. Based on the results from this study, the potential of the 4-tier test for AC studies is further underscored. Some implications of the study are discussed.     

Sixth-Grade Students’ Views of the Nature of Engineering and Images of Engineers

This study investigated the views of the nature of engineering held by 6th-grade students to provide a baseline upon which activities or curriculum materials might be developed to introduce middle-school students to the work of engineers and the process of engineering design. A phenomenographic framework was used to guide the analysis of data collected from: (1) a series of 20 semi-structured interviews with 6th-grade students, (2) drawings created by these students of “an engineer or engineers at work” that were discussed during the interviews, and (3) field notes collected by the researchers during the interviews. The 6th-grade students tended to believe that engineers were individuals who make or build products, although some students understood the role of engineers in the design or planning of products, and, to a lesser extent in testing products to ensure that they “work” and/or are safe to use. The combination of drawings of “engineers or engineering at work” and individual interviews provided more insight into the students’ views of the nature of engineering than either source of data would have offered on its own. Analysis of the data suggested that the students’ concepts of engineers and engineering were fragile, or unstable, and likely to change within the time frame of the interview.     

The Relationship between Students’ Views of the Nature of Science and their Views of the Nature of Scientific Measurement

The present study explores the relationship between students’ views of the nature of science (NOS) and their views of the nature of scientific measurement. A questionnaire with two‐tier diagnostic multiple‐choice items on both the NOS and measurement was administered to 179 first‐year physics students with diverse school experiences. Students’ views on the NOS were classified into four NOS ‘profiles’, and views on measurement were classified according to either the point or set paradigms. The findings show that students with a NOS profile dominated by a belief that the laws of nature are to be discovered by scientists are more likely to have a view of the nature of scientific measurement characterised by a belief in ‘true’ values. On the other hand, students who believe that scientific theories are inventions of scientists, constructed from observations that are then validated through further experimentation, are more likely to have a view of the nature of scientific measurement that is underpinned by the uncertain nature of scientific evidence. The implications for teaching scientific measurement at tertiary level are discussed.     

Understanding the Students’Contribution to EFL Learning

One can view life from many different perspectives, and each perspective will reveal different aspects and details. As a teaching professional, teachers’ major aim is to help learners. This is the major justification for their career. If they don’t help learners, they will not enjoy teaching. Helping learners requires certain skills on the part of the teacher.     

Students’ Levels of Understanding Models and Modelling in Biology: Global or Aspect-Dependent?

It is argued that knowledge about models is an important part of a profound understanding of Nature of Science. Consequently, researchers have developed different ‘levels of understanding’ to analyse students’, teachers’, or experts’ comprehension of this topic. In some approaches, global levels of understanding have been developed which mirror the idea of an understanding of models and modelling as a whole. Opposed to this, some authors have developed levels of understanding for distinct aspects concerning models and modelling in science (i.e. aspect-dependent levels). This points to an important issue for science education research since global conceptualisations might lead to less differentiated assessments and interventions than aspect-dependent ones. To contribute to this issue, the article summarises conceptualisations of both global and aspect-dependent levels of understanding models and modelling that have been developed in science education. Further, students’ understanding of the aspects nature of models, multiple models, purpose of models, testing models, and changing models has been assessed (N?=?1,180; 11 to 19 years old; secondary schools; Berlin, Germany). It is discussed to what extent the data support the notion of global or aspect-dependent levels of understanding models and modelling in science. The results suggest that students seem to have a complex and at least partly inconsistent pattern of understanding models. Furthermore, students with high nonverbal intelligence and good marks seem to have a comparatively more consistent and more elaborated understanding of models and modelling than weaker students. Recommendations for assessment in science education research and teaching practice are made.     

Introductory Biology Students’ Conceptual Models and Explanations of the Origin of Variation

Mutation is the key molecular mechanism generating phenotypic variation, which is the basis for evolution. In an introductory biology course, we used a model-based pedagogy that enabled students to integrate their understanding of genetics and evolution within multiple case studies. We used student-generated conceptual models to assess understanding of the origin of variation. By midterm, only a small percentage of students articulated complete and accurate representations of the origin of variation in their models. Targeted feedback was offered through activities requiring students to critically evaluate peers’ models. At semester''s end, a substantial proportion of students significantly improved their representation of how variation arises (though one-third still did not include mutation in their models). Students’ written explanations of the origin of variation were mostly consistent with their models, although less effective than models in conveying mechanistic reasoning. This study contributes evidence that articulating the genetic origin of variation is particularly challenging for learners and may require multiple cycles of instruction, assessment, and feedback. To support meaningful learning of the origin of variation, we advocate instruction that explicitly integrates multiple scales of biological organization, assessment that promotes and reveals mechanistic and causal reasoning, and practice with explanatory models with formative feedback.     

Cross-Grade Comparison of Students’ Understanding of Energy Concepts

The aims of this cross-grade study were (1) to determine the level of understanding of energy concepts of students at different academic grades and the differences in understanding between these grades and (2) to analyse the conceptual development of these students. Two hundred and forty-three students at 3 different levels (high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate) participated in this study. The students’ understandings of energy concepts were determined using a questionnaire, which requested them to define the concept verbally, and to represent it graphically. The most important findings of this study may be summarised as follows. Students from the different groups generally succeeded in defining ‘energy’ in a similar way, namely as the ‘ability to do work’. Nevertheless, some students (including those at university) also provided different alternative conceptions related to the energy concept. In addition, some students also found difficulty in visually analysing the relationships between different variables using graphs. This finding could help explain why attainment levels of all groups falls short in questions that involve the graphical representation of data.     

Upper High School Students’ Understanding of Electromagnetism

Although electromagnetism is an important component of upper secondary school physics syllabuses in many countries, there has been relatively little research on students’ understanding of the topic. A written test consisting of 16 diagnostic questions was developed and used to survey the understanding of electromagnetism of upper secondary school students in Turkey (n = 120) and England (n = 152). A separate test consisting of 10 questions on the visualization of spatial rotation was used to investigate the hypothesis that students’ ability to visualize three‐dimensional situations from two‐dimensional representations might influence learning of electromagnetism. Many students’ responses showed misunderstandings and inconsistencies that suggested they did not have a coherent framework of ideas about electromagnetism. Common errors included confusing electric and magnetic field effects, seeing field lines as indicating a “flow”, using cause–effect reasoning in situations where it does not apply, and dealing with effects associated with the rate of change of a variable. Performance on the spatial rotation test was, however, only weakly correlated with performance on the electromagnetism questions. The findings suggest the need to develop teaching strategies that help students to visualize magnetic field patterns and effects, and assist them in integrating ideas into a more coherent framework.     

Upper Secondary Students’ Understanding of the Use of Multiple Models in Biology Textbooks—The Importance of Conceptual Variation and Incommensurability

In this study we investigate students’ ability to discern conceptual variation and the use of multiple models in genetics when reading content-specific excerpts from biology textbooks. Using the history and philosophy of science as our reference, we were able to develop a research instrument allowing students themselves to investigate the occurrence of multiple models and conceptual variation in Swedish upper secondary textbooks. Two excerpts using different models of gene function were selected from authentic textbooks. Students were given the same questionnaire-instrument after reading the two texts, and the results were compared. In this way the students themselves made a classification of the texts which could then be compared with the researchers’ classification of the texts. Forty-one upper secondary students aged 18–19 participated in the study. Nine of the students also participated in semi-structured interviews. Students recognized the existence of multiple models in a general way, but had difficulty discerning the different models and the conceptual variation that occurs between them in the texts. Further they did not recognize the occurrence of incommensurability between multiple models. Students had difficulty in transforming their general knowledge of multiple models into an understanding of content specific models of gene function in the textbooks. These findings may have implications for students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge because research has established textbooks as one of the most influential aspects in the planning and execution of biology lessons, and teachers commonly assign reading passages to their students without further explanation.