Journal ArticleDOI
What kinds of scientific concepts exist? Concept construction and intellectual development in college biology
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
For example, this paper found that concepts such as subduction and evolution with exemplars that cannot in practice be observed due to limits on the normal observational time frame were easier to answer than theoretical concepts.Abstract:
Previous research has found that scientific concepts can be meaningfully classified as descriptive (i.e., concepts such as predator and organism with directly observable exemplars) or theoretical (i.e., concepts such as atom and gene without directly observable exemplars). Previous research has also found that developing understanding of descriptive and theoretical concepts is linked to students' developmental levels, presumably because the procedural knowledge structures (i.e., reasoning patterns) that define developmental levels are needed for concept construction. The present study extends prior theory and research by postulating the existence of an intermediate class of concepts called hypothetical (i.e., concepts such as subduction and evolution with exemplars that cannot in practice be observed due to limits on the normal observational time frame). The hypothesis that three kinds of scientific concepts exist was tested by constructing and administering a test on concepts introduced in a college biology course. As predicted, descriptive concept questions were significantly easier than hypothetical concept questions, than were theoretical concept questions. Further, because concept construction presumably depends in part on developmental level, students at differing developmental levels (levels 3, 4, and 5, where level 5 is conceptualized as ‘post-formal’ in which hypotheses involving unseen entities can be tested) were predicted to vary in the extent to which they succeeded on the concepts test. As predicted, a significant relationship (p < 0.001) was found between conceptual knowledge and developmental level. This result replicates previous research, and therefore provides additional support for the hypothesis that procedural knowledge skills associated with levels of intellectual development play an important role in declarative knowledge acquisition and in concept construction. The result also supports the hypothesis that intellectual development continues beyond the ‘formal’ stage during the college years, at least for some students. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 996–1018, 2000read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Improvements from a Flipped Classroom May Simply Be the Fruits of Active Learning.
TL;DR: Researchers show that students perform equally well in flipped and nonflipped classrooms if active-learning activities are held constant, suggesting that active learning is the key moderator of success.
Journal ArticleDOI
Teaching to the Test…or Testing to Teach: Exams Requiring Higher Order Thinking Skills Encourage Greater Conceptual Understanding
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of exam-question level on fostering student conceptual understanding was studied in two sections of an introductory biology course and the results showed that high-level exams would encourage not only deeper processing of the information by students in preparation for the exam but also better memory for the core information learned in the service of preparing for highlevel questions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Self-efficacy, reasoning ability, and achievement in college biology
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the relationship of self-efficacy and reasoning ability to achievement in introductory college biology students, based on the hypothesis that developing formal and postformal reasoning ability is a primary factor influencing selfefficacy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Qualitative Analysis of College Students' Ideas about the Earth: Interviews and Open-Ended Questionnaires
TL;DR: In the geosciences, alternative conceptions held by students, particularly college students as mentioned in this paper, are an active area of research in many science disciplines, especially in the field of geology.
References
More filters
Book
Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications
TL;DR: Anderson as mentioned in this paper constructs a coherent picture of human cognition, relating neural functions to mental processes, perception to abstraction, representation to meaning, knowledge to skill, language to thought, and adult cognition to child development.
Book
Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years; A Scheme
Abstract: Introduction and Resume. Context of Students' Reports. The Students' Experience. Concepts of the Scheme. The Development Scheme. Critique.
Book
The Psychology of the Child
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss factors in mental development, including the development of perception, concepts, and operations of thought and interpersonal relations, as well as the three levels in the transition from action to operation.