| 1. |
- Koc-Januchta, Marta, Ph.D. 1977-, et al.
(författare)
-
How Do Pupils Interact With and Assess a Visual Learning Environment of the Carbon Cycle?
- 2023
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the most important educational challenges in developing environmental literacy for sustainability is understanding systems thinking. For example, grasping the effects of humanity’s disruption of the natural carbon cycle is crucial for making informed choices about climate change. Although development of systems thinking skills is challenging, they could be promoted through interactive visual learning environments. In the present study, we explore pupils’ use and assessment of a newly developed interactive learning environment, termed “Tracing Carbon”, designed to support grade 7-9 pupils’ systems thinking skills in the context of the carbon cycle. Data were collected from two classes (n=63) that engaged with Tracing Carbon as part of their science class. Performance was assessed by analysing log files of interactive tasks. Further information was gathered from the number of errors and perceived difficulty in pupils’ responses to quizzes in the system. The results indicate that the errors made when performing tasks can be related to misunderstandings such as believing that trees obtain their nutrition from the soil rather than from carbon dioxide in the air. Moreover, the quiz items that were designated “easy” were associated with fewer mistakes and a lower perceived difficulty rating than quiz items designated as “hard”. Future qualitative analysis could reveal links between the hierarchy levels, the number and type of errors in both tasks and quizzes, and aspects of the communicated carbon cycle content.
|
|
| 2. |
- Tibell, Lena, et al.
(författare)
-
Att se det osynliga : Visualiseringar som meningsskapande verktyg för kommunikation av molekylär livsvetenskap
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Resultatdialog 2014. - Stockholm : Vetenskapsrådet. - 9789173072472 ; , s. 202-209
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Målet med projektet var att studera visuella representationers roll som verktyg för kommunikation och lärande inom molekylär livsvetenskap utifråntre övergripande frågeställningar:Vilka kritiska egenskaper hos visualiseringar är avgörande för hur de tolkas?Hur påverkas lärandeprocessen av olika visuella representationer?Hur påverkas lärandeprocessen av hur den visuella representationen används?Projektet har inbegripit såväl metodologisk utveckling som forskningsresultat som kan stödja konstruktionen och användandet av visualiseringar i kommunikativ praktik.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
A conceptual characterization of online videos explaining natural selection
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:7-9, s. 975-999
-
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.
|
|
| 4. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-
(författare)
-
Evolving germs – Antibiotic resistance and natural selection in education and public communication
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Bacterial resistance to antibiotics threatens modern healthcare on a global scale. Several actors in society, including the general public, must become more involved if this development is to be countered. The conveyance of relevant information provided through education and media reports is therefore of high concern. Antibiotic resistance evolves through the mechanisms of natural selection; in this way, a sound understanding of these mechanisms underlies explanations of causes and the development of effective risk-reduction measures. In addition to natural selection functioning as an explanatory framework to antibiotic resistance, bacterial resistance as a context seems to possess a number of qualities that make it suitable for teaching natural selection – a subject that has been proven notoriously hard to teach and learn. A recently suggested approach for learning natural selection involves so-called threshold concepts, which encompass abstract and integrative ideas. The threshold concepts associated with natural selection include, among others, the notions of randomness as well as vast spatial and temporal scales. Illustrating complex relationships between concepts on different levels of organization is one, of several, areas where visualizations are efficient. Given the often-imperceptible nature of threshold concepts as well as the fact that natural selection processes occur on different organizational levels, visual accounts of natural selection have many potential benefits for learning.Against this background, the present dissertation explores information conveyed to the public regarding antibiotic resistance and natural selection, as well as investigates how these topics are presented together, by scrutinizing media including news reports, websites, educational textbooks and online videos. The principal method employed in the media studies was content analysis, which was complemented with various other analytical procedures. Moreover, a classroom study was performed, in which novice pupils worked with a series of animations explaining the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Data from individual written assignments, group questions and video-recorded discussions were collected and analyzed to empirically explore the potential of antibiotic resistance as a context for learning about evolution through natural selection.Among the findings are that certain information, that is crucial for the public to know, about antibiotic resistance was conveyed to a low extent through wide-reaching news reporting. Moreover, explanations based on natural selection were rarely included in accounts of antibiotic resistance in any of the examined media. Thus, it is highly likely that a large proportion of the population is never exposed to explanations for resistance development during education or through newspapers. Furthermore, the few examples that were encountered in newspapers or textbooks were hardly ever visualized, but presented only in textual form. With regard to videos purporting to explain natural selection, it was found that a majority lacked accounts of central key concepts. Additionally, explanations of how variation originates on the DNA-level were especially scarce. These and other findings coming from the content analyses are discussed through the lens of scientific literacy and could be used to inform and strengthen teaching and scientific curricula with regards to both antibiotic resistance and evolution. Furthermore, several factors of interest for using antibiotic resistance in the teaching of evolution were identified from the classroom study. These involve, among others, how learners’ perception of threshold concepts such as randomness and levels of organization in space and time are affected by the bacterial context
|
|
| 5. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Evolving germs – Introducing novice pupils to the evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics
- 2017
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a dual relationship between antibiotic resistance and biological evolution. Antibiotic resistance is typically used as a motivation for why we need an efficient evolution education given that evolutionary reasoning improves our understanding of causes and suggested countermeasures. On the other hand, antibiotic resistance has also been suggested as a useful context in which evolution can be taught, based primarily but not solely on the quick generation times of bacteria. In the present study, we explore the potential benefits with using antibiotic resistance as an example when introducing evolution to novice pupils (aged 13-14). We created a series of animations that pupils interacted with in groups of 3-5 (total n=32). Data was collected on both individual (pre-posttest) and group (collaborative group questions) level. In addition, the exercise was video-taped and the full transcripts were analyzed inductively. The results show that a majority of the pupils succeeded in applying basic evolutionary reasoning to make predictions on antibiotic resistance during and after the exercise, suggesting that this may be a successful approach. Cautions to be aware of include pupils’ use of teleological and antropomorphic reasoning, especially in discussions on submicroscopical phenomena such as genetic processes. Implications for teaching include both lessons from the design of animations as well as the identification of common misunderstandings. The analysis also identifies and points toward several possible future research endeavours.
|
|
| 6. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Insights from introducing natural selection to novices using animations of antibiotic resistance
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Biological Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0021-9266 .- 2157-6009. ; 52:3, s. 314-330
-
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.
|
|
| 7. |
- Höst, Gunnar E., 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
Methods for investigating students’ learning and interaction with a haptic virtual biomolecular model
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Contemporary Science Education Research: International Perspectives. - Ankara : Pegem Akademi. - 9786053640318 ; , s. 115-121
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although immersive haptic virtual technologies are emerging rapidly in modern education, few methods exist for delivering data on the pedagogical merits of such models in the molecular life sciences. This paper reports on a selection of methods that we have used to obtain and analyse data on students’ learning and interaction with a haptic virtual model of protein-ligand docking, previously designed by author PBP. The methods have been developed and employed during four consecutive years in which the model has been part of an advanced biomolecular interactions course. In this regard, we present data-collection methods that include written items, interviews, think-aloud tasks and automated time-stamped logs and, corresponding quantitative and qualitative analytical procedures such as pre/posttest statistical comparisons, word usage analysis and, visualised profiling of students’ interaction with the model. Our results suggest that these methods are useful for generating valuable information on students’ learning gain, changes in conceptual understanding, reasoning processes and patterns of interactivity with the model. Dissemination of such methods could provide an empirical contribution to the dearth of research instruments in this domain. Future research will develop these methodologies to explore the relationship between using the model and students’ conceptual and embodied learning.
|
|
| 8. |
- Höst, Gunnar E., 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
Student Learning about Biomolecular Self-Assembly Using Two Different External Representations
- 2013
-
Ingår i: CBE - Life Sciences Education. - Bethesda, USA : American Society for Cell Biology. - 1931-7913. ; 12:3, s. 471-482
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Self-assembly is the fundamental but counterintuitive principle that explains how ordered biomolecular complexes form spontaneously in the cell. This study investigated the impact of using two external representations of virus self-assembly, an interactive tangible three-dimensional model and a static two-dimensional image, on student learning about the process of self-assembly in a group exercise. A conceptual analysis of self-assembly into a set of facets was performed to support study design and analysis. Written responses were collected in a pretest/posttest experimental design with 32 Swedish university students. A quantitative analysis of close-ended items indicated that the students improved their scores between pretest and posttest, with no significant difference between the conditions (tangible model/image). A qualitative analysis of an open-ended item indicated students were unfamiliar with self-assembly prior to the study. Students in the tangible model condition used the facets of self-assembly in their open-ended posttest responses more frequently than students in the image condition. In particular, it appears that the dynamic properties of the tangible model may support student understanding of self-assembly in terms of the random and reversible nature of molecular interactions. A tentative difference was observed in response complexity, with more multifaceted responses in the tangible model condition.
|
|
| 9. |
- Höst, Gunnar, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
What Biological Visualizations Do Science Center Visitors Prefer in an Interactive Touch Table?
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Education Sciences. - Basel, Switzerland : MDPI. - 2227-7102. ; 8:4
-
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.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
