The research base on students' knowledge of plants has established that misunderstandings develop in the early years of formal education and can persist through middle, secondary, and tertiary education. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a lack of emphasis on teaching biology from an organismic perspective helps explain the range…

The purpose of this study was to examine conceptual change among future elementary school teachers while studying a scientific text concerning photosynthesis. Students' learning goals in relation to their learning outcomes were also examined. The participants were future elementary school teachers. The design consisted of pre- and post-tests. The…

As follow-up to a previous article "Avoid Misconceptions When Teaching about Plants," the author identifies fifty additional misconceptions. Undergeneralizations are added to the list of oversimplifications, obsolete concepts, terms, misidentifications, and flawed research. A glossary at the end of the article compares words used in botany with…

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) provides few resources for teaching about plants. To assure students understand and appreciate plants, the author advocates teaching about plants as a basic biological concept, avoiding animal chauvinism in biology coursework, correcting pseudoscience and anthropomorphisms about plants, and making…

The purpose of the study was to explore students' alternative conceptions and their associative thinking regarding internal transport in plants through administration of a refined diagnostic test. Questions of associative thinking and explanation were added to form a third tier of the previous two-tier test. The study found three terms related to…

The aims of this study were to diagnose students' misconceptions concerning photosynthesis and respiration in plants, and to investigate reasons behind these misconceptions. The subjects were 45 ninth grade high school students and 11 high school teachers. Data were collected by interview technique. All of the interviews were audiotaped and…

Provides a chart comparing state and national objectives. Assesses student understanding of photosynthesis and explains the process of teaching students producer-consumer relationships. (Contains 14 references.) (YDS)

Describes a laboratory activity investigating important concepts in microbiology and ecology in which students design and carry out their own experiments and learn about microorganisms. Points out that all microorganisms are not dangerous and studies the relationship between Methylobacterium and plants. (YDS)

The study reported in this paper intended to trace what Chinese children think about life and identify their naive theories. Fifty-eight 5-year-old children in Taiwan from 39 kindergartens were interviewed using a semi-structured instrument. Results indicate that preschool children have preconceptions about the concept of life even before entering…

The authors investigated whether guidance and reflection would facilitate science learning in an interactive multimedia game. College students learned how to design plants to survive in different weather conditions. In Experiment 1, they learned with an agent that either guided them with corrective and explanatory feedback or corrective feedback…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Computer-Assisted Instruction Material (CAIM) related to "photosynthesis" topic on student cognitive development, misconceptions and attitudes. The study conducted in 2002-2003 academic year and was carried out in two different classes taught by the same teacher, in which…

Plant tropisms--their directional movement in response to stimuli--are a fundamental concept in plant science and excite students because they are the observable signs of life in plants. Unfortunately, the precollege teaching literature is full of tropism misconceptions. An inexpensive clock clinostat is invaluable for student gravitropism and…

In this study, the attitudes of Israeli children aged 6 to 15 years were surveyed regarding their conceptions of plants as living things. It was desired to find out whether children consider plants to be alive, the knowledge differences between the different age groups in the study, how children classify plants according to biological criteria and…

Discussed is an alternative teaching strategy to uncover and assess a common misconception in the life sciences and to articulate its use in teaching a unit on angiosperm reproduction. The learning cycle is described, and a concept map on reproduction on angiosperms is included. (KR)

Describes a multiple-choice instrument that reliably and validly diagnoses secondary students' understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in plants. Highlights the consistency of students' misconceptions across secondary levels and indicates a high percentage of students have misconceptions regarding plant physiology. (CW)