Misconceptions and persistence: resources for targeting student alternative conceptions in biotechnology

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Abstract

Conceptual understanding and reasoning of nonscience major students enrolled in a course on biotechnology were evaluated before and after instruction. The instrument for analysis of student understanding was the Biotechnology Instrument for Knowledge Elicitation (BIKE). The BIKE targets 11 key concepts, as determined by experts in the field. A statistically significant score improvement was observed in each of the 11 concept areas after completion of the course, Biotechnology in Society (N = 117). Student responses to both the pretest and posttest were highly informative and revealed several common misconceptions that could have been overlooked in a closed form testing scenario. These alternative conceptions and recommended clarifications have been presented here. Our goal in documenting and distributing these is to better equip educators in biology and biochemistry to anticipate student preconceptions, design targeted interventions, and improve student conceptual reasoning in topics pertaining to biology and biotechnology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)602-611
Number of pages10
JournalBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Education
Volume46
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2018

Keywords

  • assessment and the design of probes for student understanding and learning
  • assessment of educational activities
  • Biotechnology education

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