1 RESEARCH IN DIDAKTIK OF BIOLOGY PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS IN DIDAKTIK OF BIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF GÖTEBORG, NOVEMBER 18 - 22, 1998 Edited by Björn Andersson Ute Harms Gustav Helldén Maj-Lis Sjöbeck 2 CONTENTS Editorial 5 RESEARCH ON ATTITUDES AND INTERESTS 1 Israeli students' attitudes towards and interest in different biological 9 topics: a review of the research studies over the last 25 years Pinchas Tamir STUDENTS' CONCEPTIONS 2 A longitudinal study of pupils' conceptualization of the role 47 of the flower in plant reproduction Gustav Helldén 3 Do students have an implicit theory of animal kinship? 61 Ulrich Kattmann 4 Students' understandings about animal skeletons 85 Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Michael J. Reis 5 What happens to the food we eat? Children's conceptions 97 of the structure and function of the digestive system Francimar Martins Teixeira 6 Pupils' conceptions of food in contaminated areas 111 Lieke Kievits, Lena Huisman, Fred Brinkman and Vladimir Tarasov 7 Genes, chromosomes, cell division and inheritance – 123 do students see any relationship? Jenny Lewis and Colin Wood-Robinson 8 Students' views after the birth of Dolly the sheep 135 Laurence Simonneaux TEACHING AND LEARNING 9 The teaching and learning of evolution at the primary level 155 Annemarie Møller Andersen and Svend Hesselholdt 10 Meaningful learning of the theory of evolution in high 169 school in Israel using a 'collection' of reading materials Liora Peled, Hanna Barenholz and Pinchas Tamir 3 11 Fostering students' argumentation skills through 181 bio-ethical dilemmas in genetics Anat Zohar and Flora Nemet 12 Teaching Biology -facilities, curriculum time and approaches 193 to teaching and learning for 16-18 year olds. Roger Lock 13 Problems, processes and outcomes of individual research projects 205 in biology conducted by students in academic high schools in Israel Shoshana Statter and Pinchas Tamir ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION 14 Promoting reasoning and argument about environmental issues 217 María Pilar Jiménez Aleixandre, Cristina Pereiro Muñoz and Virginia Aznar Cuadrado 15 The role of biology teachers in interdisciplinary 233 environmental teaching and learning contexts Regula Kyburz-Graber WORK IN PROGRESS 16 Mapping access to food in deprived areas: an educational perspective 247 Sheila Turner, Beth McLellan-Arnold, Ralph Levinson, Elizabeth Dowler, Angela Donkin and Simon Stevenson 17 Learning from worked-out examples in Biology: 261 Empirical analysis of self-explanations Angela Kross and Gunter Lind 18 Biology teachers' perceptions of learning problems in 271 Mendelian genetics Marie-Christine Knippels, Arend Jan Waarlo and Kerst Boersma INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 19 Energy flow on Earth – an orientation pattern for today's world 279 Björn Andersson LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 291 4 5 EDITORIAL The Second conference of European Researchers In Didaktik Of Biology (ERIODOB) was held at the University of Goeteborg, Sweden November 18-22, 1998 The aim of the conference has been to give researchers in biology didaktik the opportunity to present and discuss their research work and results on an European level. The academic committee for the conference was: Prof.Dr Horst Bayrhuber Dr Fred Brinkman Dr Pierre Clement Dr Ute Harms Dr Maria Pilar Jimenez-Aleixandre Dr Gustav Hellden The local committee was: Dr Maj-Lis Sjöbeck (chair) Mrs Gun Mathiasson (secretary) Dr Mats Hagman M Sc Jan Landström M Sc Anita Wallin M Sc Ann Zetterqvist The papers and posters of the conference have been reviewed by a team of four: Dr Fred Brinkman Dr Maria Pilar Jimenez-Aleixandre Prof Dr Ulrich Kattmann Dr Jenny Lewis The following criteria have been applied by the reviewers: RESEARCH. Is the proposal about research work? SUBJECT/PROBLEM. Is the proposal based on a theory? DESIGN. Is the design appropriate? DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS. Does the data analysis appear to be appropriate? GENERAL INTEREST. Does the presentation promise to be of general interest? The reviewers have recommended 18 of the contributions to the conference for inclusion in the proceedings. They are hereby published. Mölndal, February 1, 2000 Björn Andersson Ute Harms Gustav Helldén 6 7 RESEARCH ON ATTITUDES AND INTERESTS 8 9 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ ISRAELI STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND INTEREST IN DIFFERENT BIOLOGICAL TOPICS: A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH STUDIES OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS _______________________________________________________________________________ Pinchas Tamir Hebrew University, Jerusalem Introduction This conference in Gothenburg is special and distinct from most others. Most professional conferences on education are organized around content areas such as mathematics, language , science, or music. Conferences often feature a specific theme such as homeostasis in zoology or photosynthesis in botany. In this conference the organization level is neither as general as science nor as specific as photosynthesis or homeostasis. Rather, the organization level chosen is that of school subjects, namely biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences. How will a conference on biological education differ from a conference on science education? The major difference lies in the nature of experts in these different subjects and its implications. Within biology, the units of studies are at the level of life processes such as respiration or digestion as well as subgroups such as varieties of a particular organism. When I deliberated with myself about the issues that I would discuss in this conference, I decided to select an area or topic that will be unique to biology. By unique, I mean some issue that relates and integrates with the most authentic attribute of biology, namely life and living. Purpose The purpose, therefore, of this study is to review the literature on a) attitudes of students toward science in general and biology in particular; b) the attitudes of students toward the study of biology in school; and c) the relationship between attitudes of various types and achievement in knowledge, understanding and problem solving in the life sciences. 10 Measures The following issues and variables were identified and included: • Interest in science and science learning with special reference to biology • Curiosity in science and science learning with special reference to biology • Attitudes of students to the use of living organisms for the study of biology in school • Attitudes of students to the study of biology a) in class; b) in the laboratory; c) in the outdoors; and d) as a hobby • Attitudes of students toward the study of plants - animals - microbiology A review of factors which affect the attitudes was carried out. Effect was found in the following attributes: 1. Gender differences in attitudes related to science education in Israel with special reference to biology (Friedler & Tamir, 1990) 2. The structure of interest in high school biology (Tamir & Gardner, 1989; Gardner & Tamir, 1989, I; Gardner & Tamir, 1989, II). 3. Variables that affect student enrolment in science courses (Milner, Ben-Zvi & Hofstein, 1987; Gardner & Tamir, 1989, II). 4. Attitudes of secondary school students in Israel towards the use of live organisms in the study of biology (Tamir, 1980; Tamir & Sever, 1980; Tamir & Hamo, 1980; Silberstein & Tamir, 1981; Tamir & Shcurr, 1997). Gender Differences in Science Education in Israel with Special Reference to Biology General Trends Research on the differences between the sexes in relation to schooling and learning has received much attention in the last two decades. Girls tend to succeed more in the elementary school and less in high school. The “breaking point” is the beginning of adolescence, and this has caused researchers to explain the phenomenon by the entry into sex roles (Nash, 1979). At this stage, girls show lower cognitive achievement in “masculine” fields (Garratt, 1986) as well as lower aspirations toward future achievements. There is greater motivation on the part of boys to achieve academically (ensuring superior occupational status) and lower motivation among the girls, together resulting in the formation of an achievement gap at this stage (Kfir, 1988). The rich information provided by the research has generally confirmed findings of many previous studies which indicate that, in general, boys show higher achievement, are more interested in, and tend to have more positive attitudes towards science. Usually the differences are lowest at age 10 and greatest at age 17. For example, in the First International Science Study, the difference was about a quarter of a standard deviation at age 10, half a standard deviation at age 14, and