Cargando…

Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters

We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning wit...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Parker, Joyce M., Anderson, Charles W., Heidemann, Merle, Merrill, John, Merritt, Brett, Richmond, Gail, Urban-Lurain, Mark
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3292062/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22383617
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-07-0054
_version_ 1782225224130887680
author Parker, Joyce M.
Anderson, Charles W.
Heidemann, Merle
Merrill, John
Merritt, Brett
Richmond, Gail
Urban-Lurain, Mark
author_facet Parker, Joyce M.
Anderson, Charles W.
Heidemann, Merle
Merrill, John
Merritt, Brett
Richmond, Gail
Urban-Lurain, Mark
author_sort Parker, Joyce M.
collection PubMed
description We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific principles: conservation of matter, conservation of energy, and the hierarchical nature of biological systems. Data on students' responses to the cluster items and uses of some of the questions in multiple-choice, multiple-true/false, and essay formats are compared. A cross-over study indicates that the multiple-true/false format shows promise as a machine-gradable format that identifies students who have a mixture of accurate and inaccurate ideas. In addition, interviews with students about their choices on three multiple-choice questions reveal the fragility of students' understanding. Collectively, the data show that many undergraduates lack both a basic understanding of the role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism and the ability to reason with scientific principles when learning new content. Implications for instruction are discussed.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3292062
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher American Society for Cell Biology
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32920622012-03-02 Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters Parker, Joyce M. Anderson, Charles W. Heidemann, Merle Merrill, John Merritt, Brett Richmond, Gail Urban-Lurain, Mark CBE Life Sci Educ Articles We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific principles: conservation of matter, conservation of energy, and the hierarchical nature of biological systems. Data on students' responses to the cluster items and uses of some of the questions in multiple-choice, multiple-true/false, and essay formats are compared. A cross-over study indicates that the multiple-true/false format shows promise as a machine-gradable format that identifies students who have a mixture of accurate and inaccurate ideas. In addition, interviews with students about their choices on three multiple-choice questions reveal the fragility of students' understanding. Collectively, the data show that many undergraduates lack both a basic understanding of the role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism and the ability to reason with scientific principles when learning new content. Implications for instruction are discussed. American Society for Cell Biology 2012 /pmc/articles/PMC3292062/ /pubmed/22383617 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-07-0054 Text en © 2012 J. M. Parker et al.CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2012 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society of Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Articles
Parker, Joyce M.
Anderson, Charles W.
Heidemann, Merle
Merrill, John
Merritt, Brett
Richmond, Gail
Urban-Lurain, Mark
Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title_full Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title_fullStr Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title_short Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters
title_sort exploring undergraduates' understanding of photosynthesis using diagnostic question clusters
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3292062/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22383617
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-07-0054
work_keys_str_mv AT parkerjoycem exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT andersoncharlesw exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT heidemannmerle exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT merrilljohn exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT merrittbrett exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT richmondgail exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters
AT urbanlurainmark exploringundergraduatesunderstandingofphotosynthesisusingdiagnosticquestionclusters