High School Students' Understanding of Human Evolution

Autor/inn/en	Seoh, Kah Huat Robin; Subramaniam, Ramanathan; Hoh, Yin Kiong
Titel	High School Students' Understanding of Human Evolution
Quelle	(2013), (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	High School Students; Evolution; Science Instruction; Foreign Countries; Grade 12; Biology; Genealogy; Theories; Singapore + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Ausland; School year 12; 12. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 12; Biologie; Ahnenforschung; Genealogie; Theory; Theorie; Singapur
Abstract	Diverse alternative conceptions embedded in the minds of learners of biology impede their learning of evolution. Our study aimed to find out the acceptance level of the theory of evolution in high school students in Singapore, characterise how students describe human evolution, and measure the prevalence of common alternative conceptions in the same group of students, through a survey consisting of several multiple-choice questions about their understanding, as well as an open-ended question that allowed students to freely describe how humans have evolved. Student responses were first coded based on the grounded theory approach and then sorted into different categories. The results revealed that a very significant proportion of the students doubted that evolution has ever taken place. Context analyses of their open-ended responses revealed that students preferred to first describe the lineage or taxa of the ancestral organism, followed by trait polarity (both trait gain and trait loss), and subsequently describing trait types. For relatively short evolutionary time, trait loss descriptions were more frequent whereas for relatively long evolutionary time, trait gain descriptions were more likely. Certain types of alternative conceptions, particularly transmogrificationist types of conceptions, were also found to be more prevalent in students' answers, where students grossly overestimates the potential of evolution to drive changes over time. These findings, which were in line with the findings of the literature, further highlight that despite much work done in the education of evolution, students continued to develop alternative conceptions when attempting to understand the theory. As such, there is a need to revise textbooks, curricula, and lesson delivery, especially with respect to the education of human evolution, in order to help students overcome some of these alternative conceptions. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Australian Association for Research in Education. AARE Secretariat, One Geils Court, Deakin ACT 2600, Australia. Tel: +61-2-6285-8388; e-mail: aare@aare.edu.au; Web site: http://www.aare.edu.au
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01