Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection as a Tool for Measuring Greek University Students' Evolution Knowledge: Differences between Novice and Advanced Students

Autor/inn/en	Athanasiou, Kyriacos; Mavrikaki, Evangelia
Titel	Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection as a Tool for Measuring Greek University Students' Evolution Knowledge: Differences between Novice and Advanced Students
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 36 (2014) 8, S.1262-1285 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2013.856529
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Undergraduate Students; Questionnaires; Science Education; College Science; Evolution; Correlation; Comparative Analysis; Advanced Students; Novices; Concept Formation; Scientific Concepts; Measures (Individuals); Canada; Greece; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Fragebogen; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Korrelation; Fortgeschrittener; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Messdaten; Kanada; Griechenland; USA
Abstract	The primary objective of this research was to compare various groups of Greek university students for their level of knowledge of Evolution by means of Natural Selection (ENS). For the purpose of the study, we used a well known questionnaire the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) and 352 biology majors and non-majors students from the University of Athens took part in it. A principal components analysis revealed problems with the items designed to assess the concepts of "population stability," "differential survival" and "variation inheritable," therefore these items need to be reconsidered. Nonetheless, the results of the CINS for each Greek sub-group showed that the higher the involvement in evolution education, the higher the students' performances on the CINS test. This linear correlation, together with other evidence, supports the CINS authors' claims about the usefulness of the CINS as an assessment of instruction. Unfortunately, Greek university students gave many teleological and proximate answers to many of the CINS items. Comparisons between least and most evolutionary educated university students revealed that the latter gave more evolutionary answers. Oddly, advanced biology majors students did not show an improvement in all the 20 items of the CINS (only in 14 out of the 20 items) compared to novice biology students. They even gave more teleological answers to the concept "natural resources are limited" than novice biology majors students. Finally, Greek university students' level of knowledge of ENS seems to be closer to Canadian than US students'. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10