| 1. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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A conceptual characterization of online videos explaining natural selection
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:7-9, s. 975-999
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.
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| 2. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Insights from introducing natural selection to novices using animations of antibiotic resistance
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Biological Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0021-9266 .- 2157-6009. ; 52:3, s. 314-330
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antibiotic resistance is typically used to justify education about evolution, as evolutionary reasoning improves our understanding of causes of resistance and possible countermeasures. It has also been promoted as a useful context for teaching natural selection, because its potency as a selection factor, in combination with the very short generation times of bacteria, allows observation of rapid selection. It is also amenable to animations, which have potential for promoting conceptual inferences. Thus, we have explored the potential benefits of introducing antibiotic resistance as a first example of natural selection, in animations, to novice pupils (aged 13–14 years). We created a series of animations that pupils interacted with in groups of 3–5 (total n = 32). Data were collected at individual (pre-/post- test) and group (collaborative group questions) levels. In addition, the exercise was video-recorded and the full transcripts were analysed inductively. The results show that most of the pupils successfully applied basic evolutionary reasoning to predict antibiotic resistance development in tasks during and after the exercise, suggesting that this may be an effective approach. Pedagogical contributions include the identification of certain characteristics of the bacterial context for evolution teaching, including common misunderstandings, and factors to consider when designing animations.
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| 3. |
- Höst, Gunnar, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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What Biological Visualizations Do Science Center Visitors Prefer in an Interactive Touch Table?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Education Sciences. - Basel, Switzerland : MDPI. - 2227-7102. ; 8:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hands-on digital interactivity in science centers provides new communicative opportunities. The Microcosmos multi-touch table allows visitors to interact with 64 image “cards” of (sub)microscopic biological structures and processes embedded across seven theme categories. This study presents the integration of biological content, interactive features and logging capabilities into the table, and analyses visitors’ usage and preferences. Data logging recorded 2,070,350 events including activated category, selected card, and various finger-based gestures. Visitors interacted with all cards during 858 sessions (96 s on average). Finger movements covered an average accumulated distance of 4.6 m per session, and about 56% of card interactions involved two fingers. Visitors made 5.53 category switches per session on average, and the virus category was most activated (average 0.96 per session). An overall ranking score related to card attractive power and holding power revealed that six of the most highly used cards depicted viruses and four were colourful instrument output images. The large finger traversal distance and proportion of two-finger card interaction may indicate the intuitiveness of the gestures. Observed trends in visitor engagement with the biological visualizations are considered in terms of construal level theory. Future work will examine how interactions are related to potential learning of biological content.
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