TY - JOUR

T1 - Conceptual characterization of threshold concepts in student explanations of evolution by natural selection and effects of item context

AU - Göransson, Andreas

AU - Orraryd, Daniel

AU - Fiedler, Daniela

AU - Tibell, Lena A.E.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the whole EvoVis group (Gustav Bohlin, Ute Harms, Gunnar Höst, Nalle Jonsson, Marta Koc-Januchta, Konrad Schönborn, and Jörgen Stenlund) for valuable support during work on the article. Special thanks are due to Gunnar Höst for valuable discussions on statistics and John Blackwell for language review. We also thank the Swedish Research Council for providing the funds for the research presented in the paper. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR 2012:5344, LT). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 A. Göransson et al.

PY - 2020/3/1

Y1 - 2020/3/1

N2 - Evolutionary theory explains a wide range of biological phenomena. Proper under­standing of evolutionary mechanisms such as natural selection is therefore an essential goal for biology education. Unfortunately, natural selection has time and again proven difficult to teach and learn, and students’ resulting understanding is often characterized by misconceptions. Previous research has often focused on the importance of certain key concepts such as variation, differential survival, and change in population. However, so-called threshold concepts (randomness, probability, spatial scale, and temporal scales) have also been suggested to be important for understanding of natural selection, but there is currently limited knowledge about how students use these concepts. We sought to address this lack of knowledge by collecting responses to three different natural selection items from 247 university students from Sweden and Germany. Content analysis (deduc­tive and inductive coding) and subsequent statistical analysis of their responses showed that they overall use some spatial scale indicators, such as individuals and populations, but less often randomness or probability in their explanations. However, frequencies of use of threshold concepts were affected by the item context (e.g., the biological taxa and trait gain or loss). The results suggest that the impact of threshold concepts, especially randomness and probability, on natural selection understanding should be further explored.

AB - Evolutionary theory explains a wide range of biological phenomena. Proper under­standing of evolutionary mechanisms such as natural selection is therefore an essential goal for biology education. Unfortunately, natural selection has time and again proven difficult to teach and learn, and students’ resulting understanding is often characterized by misconceptions. Previous research has often focused on the importance of certain key concepts such as variation, differential survival, and change in population. However, so-called threshold concepts (randomness, probability, spatial scale, and temporal scales) have also been suggested to be important for understanding of natural selection, but there is currently limited knowledge about how students use these concepts. We sought to address this lack of knowledge by collecting responses to three different natural selection items from 247 university students from Sweden and Germany. Content analysis (deduc­tive and inductive coding) and subsequent statistical analysis of their responses showed that they overall use some spatial scale indicators, such as individuals and populations, but less often randomness or probability in their explanations. However, frequencies of use of threshold concepts were affected by the item context (e.g., the biological taxa and trait gain or loss). The results suggest that the impact of threshold concepts, especially randomness and probability, on natural selection understanding should be further explored.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077695929&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1187/cbe.19-03-0056

DO - 10.1187/cbe.19-03-0056

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31916913

AN - SCOPUS:85077695929

VL - 19

JO - CBE Life Sciences Education

JF - CBE Life Sciences Education

SN - 1931-7913

IS - 1

M1 - ar1

ER -