Students' Understanding of the Emergent Processes of Natural Selection: The Need for Ontological Conceptual Change

Autor/inn/en	McLure, Felicity; Won, Mihye; Treagust, David F.
Titel	Students' Understanding of the Emergent Processes of Natural Selection: The Need for Ontological Conceptual Change
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 42 (2020) 9, S.1485-1502 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (McLure, Felicity) ORCID (Won, Mihye) ORCID (Treagust, David F.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2020.1767315
Schlagwörter	Scientific Concepts; Concept Formation; High School Students; Science Instruction; Secondary School Science; Instructional Effectiveness; Group Activities; Questioning Techniques; Teaching Methods; Feedback (Response); Grade 10; Evolution; Foreign Countries; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Unterrichtserfolg; Gruppenaktivität; Befragungstechnik; Fragetechnik; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Ausland; Australien
Abstract	The topic of natural selection presents challenges to high school students since it requires understanding of an emergent process, which is a missing schema for most students. Many interventions for teaching natural selection have limited effect in bringing about substantial ontological conceptual change. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a series of lessons to build understanding of natural selection as an emergent process. A conceptual change approach enabled students to develop explanations through their transfer of understanding when producing a series of student-generated representations, culminating in elaborated written explanations of evolutionary scenarios. This process was supported through small-group social construction of understanding, Socratic questioning in whole class discussions and teacher feedback. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare conceptual change in experimental and comparison grade 10 classes using pre/post tests and analysis of written explanations. Results showed significantly greater conceptual change in the experimental class than the comparison class in pre/post tests and adoption of many aspects of the scientific ontological model in written explanations. This approach may be further developed as a method for supporting high school students' understanding of this difficult topic. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01