Publication Title: Evo Edu Outreach
Author: Tessa M. Andrews & Steven T. Kalinowski & Mary J. Leonard
Volume: 4
Page Number: 456–466
Publication Year: 2011
Abstract:
Abstract Natural selection is an important mechanism in the unifying biological theory of evolution, but many undergraduate students struggle to learn this concept. Students enter introductory biology courses with predict- able misconceptions about natural selection, and traditional teaching methods, such as lecturing, are unlikely to dispel these misconceptions. Instead, students are more likely to learn natural selection when they are engaged in instruc- tional activities specifically designed to change misconcep- tions. Three instructional strategies useful for changing student conceptions include (1) eliciting naïve conceptions from students, (2) challenging nonscientific conceptions, and (3) emphasizing conceptual frameworks throughout instruction. In this paper, we describe a classroom dis- cussion of the question “Are humans evolving?” that employs these three strategies for teaching students how natural selection operates. Our assessment of this activity shows that it successfully elicits students’ misconceptions and improves student understanding of natural selection. Seventy-eight percent of our students who began this exercise with misconceptions were able to partially or completely change their misconceptions by the end of this discussion. The course that this activity was part of also showed significant learning gains (d = 1.48) on the short form of the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection. This paper includes all the background information, data, and visual aids an instructor will need to implement this activity.
Keywords Evolution . Natural selection . Science education . Active learning . Conceptual change . Human evolution . College biology.
Misconceptions
- Category :Teleological/Intentionality 1. Student believes change happens as a result of need or desire{Age/Grade: adult}{Scientific Subjects: Biology, Evolution and Origin of Life}
- 2. In Principle of inertia, student believes selection has always occurred and so will continue to occur{Age/Grade: adult}{Scientific Subjects: Biology, Evolution and Origin of Life}
- 3. In use and disuse category student believes traits that are used are retained and those that are not used are lost.{Age/Grade: adult}{Scientific Subjects: Biology, Evolution and Origin of Life}
- 4. In lack of selection/natural selection as all or nothing, student believes natural selection no longer occurs in first world countries OR that selection only happens when organisms die.{Age/Grade: adult}{Scientific Subjects: Biology, Evolution and Origin of Life}
- 5. in uniform species, students believes all organisms in a species are essentially alike.{Age/Grade: adult}{Scientific Subjects: Biology, Evolution and Origin of Life}