Seeing is Knowing: Using Images to Diagnose Misconceptions in Biology

（91）误解和不完整的知识会干扰学生构建导致深度学习的概念层次的能力。这个项目正在开发一系列基于图像的评估，植根于学生的心理模型，以诊断生物学中的误解。这项工作的目标是在生物多样性的层次结构中识别常见的误解或不完整的知识，目的是开发材料来解决和提高学生的生物学知识。该项目基于推理推理和决策模型，包括三个步骤。在步骤1中，学生生成并注释代表他们对特定概念（例如细胞结构，昆虫形态）的理解（即心理模型）的图纸。分析学生生成的图像是否存在基本元素以及是否存在不正确的信息。初步结果显示，学生的图纸包含以前未被识别的误解基于不正确的信息或未被识别的误解基于不完整的信息。图像的使用允许识别不同学生群体持有的误解，独立于英语语言技能。该项目的第二步要求学生对特定概念的一系列图像进行分类。这些图像包括常见的、不熟悉的和教科书上的概念例子。一些图像被操纵来添加、删除或替换基本特征。学生在这项任务中的表现是对用来进行推理的线索提供洞察力。该项目的最后一步涉及整合先前的结果，以得出一组常见的误解，用于构建可作为低年级生物课程诊断和教育工具的指导评估。导师制评估的独特之处在于，除了向教师提供诊断信息外，它还能使学生意识到自己的误解，而不受语言能力的影响；这是保留STEM中代表性不足群体的重要特征。智力优势：该项目旨在检查学生的误解，将其作为推理推理错误的产物，目的是识别生物学中常见误解背后的缺失或错误线索。使用图像来实现这一目标提供了一种解决问题的新方法。更广泛的影响：发展一种基于图像的评估方法来识别生物学中常见的误解，可以在国家层面上影响生物教学的质量，特别是对于代表性不足和非英语母语的学生。该评估的格式可以作为生物学或其他STEM学科的其他子学科的类似研究的模型。

Assessment / Research (91)Misconceptions and incomplete knowledge interfere with a student's ability to construct a conceptual hierarchy leading to deep learning. This project is developing a series of image-based assessments, rooted in student mental models, to diagnose misconceptions in biology. The goal of this work is to identify common misconceptions or incomplete knowledge within the hierarchy of biological diversity with the objective of developing materials to address and enhance student knowledge in biology. The project, based on models of inferential reasoning and decision-making, consists of three steps. In step 1, students generate and annotate drawings representing their understanding (i.e. mental model) of a specific concept (e.g. cell structure, insect morphology). Student-generated images are analyzed for the presence or absence of essential elements and for the presence of incorrect information. Preliminary results reveal that student drawings contain previously unrecognized misconceptions based on incorrect information or unrecognized misconceptions based on incomplete information. The use of images allows for the identification of misconceptions held by a diverse group of students, independent of English language skill. Step 2 of the project requires students to categorize a series of images specific to a concept. The images include common, unfamiliar, and textbook examples of the concept. Some images are manipulated to add, remove or displace essential features. Student performance on this task is providing insight to the cues used in making inferences. The final step of the project involves the integration of the previous results to arrive at a common set of misconceptions for use in the construction of tutorial assessment that can be implemented as a diagnostic and educational tool in lower division biology courses. The unique quality of the tutorial assessment is that, in addition to providing diagnostic information to instructors, it functions to make students aware of their own misconceptions independent of their language proficiency; an important feature for the retention of under-represented groups in STEM. Intellectual Merit: The proposed project is examining student misconceptions as the product of errors in inferential reasoning with the goal of identifying the missing or erroneous cues that underlie common misconceptions in biology. The use of images to accomplish this goal provides a novel approach to the problem. Broader Impact: The development of an image-based assessment for the identification of common misconceptions in biology can impact the quality of biology instruction, especially for under-represented and non-native English speaking students, at a national level. The format of this assessment could be used as a model for similar studies in other sub-disciplines in biology or in other STEM disciplines.