Seeing is Knowing: Using Images to Diagnose Misconceptions in Biology

评估/研究（91）误解和不完整的知识会干扰学生构建概念层次结构的能力，从而导致深度学习。该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。这项工作的目标是确定生物多样性层次结构中常见的误解或不完整的知识，目的是开发材料，以解决和提高学生的生物学知识。该项目基于推理和决策模型，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。学生生成的图像进行分析的存在或不存在的基本元素和不正确的信息的存在。初步结果显示，学生图纸包含以前未被识别的错误概念的基础上不正确的信息或未被识别的错误概念的基础上不完整的信息。图像的使用允许识别由不同群体的学生，独立于英语语言技能的误解。项目的第二步要求学生对一系列特定于一个概念的图像进行分类。这些图像包括常见的，不熟悉的和教科书的概念的例子。一些图像被操纵以添加、移除或替换基本特征。学生在这项任务中的表现是提供洞察力的线索，用于作出推论。该项目的最后一步涉及到整合以前的结果，以达到一个共同的一套误解，用于建设的教程评估，可以实施作为诊断和教育工具，在较低的师生物课程。辅导评估的独特之处在于，除了为教师提供诊断信息外，它还能让学生意识到自己的误解，而不依赖于他们的语言水平;这是保留STEM中代表性不足的群体的一个重要特征。智力优势：拟议的项目是检查学生的错误概念的产品，在推理推理的目标是确定丢失或错误的线索，在生物学中常见的错误概念的基础。使用图像来实现这一目标提供了一种新的方法来解决这个问题。更广泛的影响：开发基于图像的评估来识别生物学中的常见误解可能会影响国家层面的生物教学质量，特别是对于代表性不足和非英语母语的学生。这种评估的形式可以作为生物学或其他STEM学科其他子学科类似研究的模型。

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.