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ERIC Number: EJ1225642
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Sep
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1931-7913
EISSN: N/A
Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss
Sripathi, Kamali N.; Moscarella, Rosa A.; Yoho, Rachel; You, Hye Sun; Urban-Lurain, Mark; Merrill, John; Haudek, Kevin
CBE - Life Sciences Education, v18 n3 Article 37 Sep 2019
Recent calls for college biology education reform have identified "pathways and transformations of matter and energy" as a big idea in biology crucial for students to learn. Previous work has been conducted on how college students think about such matter-transforming processes; however, little research has investigated how students connect these ideas. Here, we probe student thinking about matter transformations in the familiar context of human weight loss. Our analysis of 1192 student constructed responses revealed three scientific (which we label "Normative") and five less scientific (which we label "Developing") ideas that students use to explain weight loss. Additionally, students combine these ideas in their responses, with an average number of 2.19 [plus or minus] 1.07 ideas per response, and 74.4% of responses containing two or more ideas. These results highlight the extent to which students hold multiple (both correct and incorrect) ideas about complex biological processes. We described student responses as conforming to either Scientific, Mixed, or Developing descriptive models, which had an average of 1.9 [plus or minus] 0.6, 3.1 [plus or minus] 0.9, and 1.7 [plus or minus] 0.8 ideas per response, respectively. Such heterogeneous student thinking is characteristic of difficulties in both conceptual change and early expertise development and will require careful instructional intervention for lasting learning gains.
American Society for Cell Biology. 8120 Woodmont Avenue Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814-2762. Tel: 301-347-9300; Fax: 301-347-9310; e-mail: ascbinfo@ascb.org; Website: http://www.ascb.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: DUE1323162; DUE1347740