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University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics

Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution—the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract “threshold” concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fiedler, Daniela, Tröbst, Steffen, Harms, Ute
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28572180
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-07-0230
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author Fiedler, Daniela
Tröbst, Steffen
Harms, Ute
author_facet Fiedler, Daniela
Tröbst, Steffen
Harms, Ute
author_sort Fiedler, Daniela
collection PubMed
description Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution—the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract “threshold” concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is the lack of an appropriate instrument for assessing students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the context of evolution. To address this problem, we have developed two instruments, Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Evolution (RaProEvo) and Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Mathematics (RaProMath), that include both multiple-choice and free-response items. The instruments were administered to 140 university students in Germany, then the Rasch partial-credit model was applied to assess them. The results indicate that the instruments generate reliable and valid inferences about students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the two contexts (which are separable competencies). Furthermore, RaProEvo detected significant differences in knowledge of randomness and probability, as well as evolutionary theory, between biology majors and preservice biology teachers.
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spelling pubmed-54592562017-06-12 University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics Fiedler, Daniela Tröbst, Steffen Harms, Ute CBE Life Sci Educ Article Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution—the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract “threshold” concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is the lack of an appropriate instrument for assessing students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the context of evolution. To address this problem, we have developed two instruments, Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Evolution (RaProEvo) and Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Mathematics (RaProMath), that include both multiple-choice and free-response items. The instruments were administered to 140 university students in Germany, then the Rasch partial-credit model was applied to assess them. The results indicate that the instruments generate reliable and valid inferences about students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the two contexts (which are separable competencies). Furthermore, RaProEvo detected significant differences in knowledge of randomness and probability, as well as evolutionary theory, between biology majors and preservice biology teachers. American Society for Cell Biology 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5459256/ /pubmed/28572180 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-07-0230 Text en © 2017 D. Fiedler et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 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 for Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Article
Fiedler, Daniela
Tröbst, Steffen
Harms, Ute
University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title_full University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title_fullStr University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title_full_unstemmed University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title_short University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics
title_sort university students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the contexts of evolution and mathematics
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28572180
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-07-0230
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