Investigating Novice and Expert Conceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms

Potter, Lisa; Bissonnette, Sarah A.; Knight, J. D.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

doi:10.1187/cbe.16-11-0333

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For example, studies have found that many ABM who have taken course work in evolution and genetics do not use their knowledge of natural selection to accurately describe antibiotic resistance ( Richard et al. , 2017 ) or their molecular biology knowledge to describe a GMO ( Potter et al. , 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While many college undergraduates take a biology course, either as a stand-alone course or as part of a biology major, college biology students often have difficulty relating their biology knowledge to real-world issues. This disconnect is apparent in topics as disparate as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and antibiotic resistance ( Potter et al. , 2017 ; Richard et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What College Biology Students Know about How Vaccines Work

Kahlon

Waheed

Owens

2022

LSE

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What College Biology Students Know about How Vaccines Work

Kahlon

Waheed

Owens

2022

LSE

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“…These results indicate that many of the students who initially did not use central dogma-related ideas did possess the basic knowledge about the central dogma and were able to apply it once that knowledge was brought to mind. This finding is useful for vaccine education given that other research has found that the efficacy of cues for prompting students to apply their biology knowledge may differ by topic ( 2 , 14 ). However, it is also important to note that not all the ideas produced in the cued condition were scientifically accurate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…It is critical for biology educators to prepare students to apply their biology knowledge to understand societally relevant biology topics ( 1 ). However, it can be difficult for students to do this, especially without a cue that signals to students that their classroom knowledge may be relevant ( 2 , 3 ). The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the importance of vaccination for protecting against infectious disease ( 4 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate-level biology students’ application of central dogma to understand COVID mRNA vaccines

Shahoy,

Du,

Mostafa

et al. 2024

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the importance of mRNA vaccines. The mechanism for how such vaccines work is related to the core biology topic of the central dogma, which students often misunderstand despite its importance. Therefore, we wanted to know whether students can apply their biology knowledge of central dogma to the real-world issue of how mRNA COVID vaccines work. Accordingly, we asked college biology students of different expertise levels how the COVID vaccine worked. Later, we cued them by telling them the vaccine contains mRNA and asked them what the mRNA does. We used thematic analysis to find common ideas in their responses. In the uncued condition, fewer than half of the students used central dogma-related ideas to explain what was in the vaccine or how the vaccine worked. Inaccurate ideas were present among all groups of biology students, particularly entering biology majors and non-biology majors, including the idea that the COVID vaccines contain a weakened, dead, or variant form of the COVID virus. After students were cued, many more students in all expertise groups expressed central dogma-related themes, showing that students could apply the knowledge of central dogma if prompted. Advanced biology majors were much more likely to state that the vaccines code for a viral protein, indicating their advanced application of central dogma concepts. These results highlight inaccurate ideas common among students and show changes in the ability to apply knowledge with student expertise level, which could inform future interventions to support student learning about vaccines and central dogma.

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“…Comparative studies of experts and novices in different subject areas have been central to understanding domain-general and domain-specific features of problem representation and problem-solving performance for nearly a century (reviewed in Novick and Bassok, 2012). Novice-expert comparisons have seen comparatively little use in BER, although some notable exceptions include studies in genetics (Smith, 1983), evolution (Nehm & Ridgway, 2011), and genetically-modified organisms (Potter et al 2017). These studies offer a range of insights into how novices and experts conceptualize problems, plan solutions, and utilize concepts and frameworks in problemsolving tasks.…”

Section: What Cognitive Framework Could Guide Ber?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biology education research: building integrative frameworks for teaching and learning about living systems

Nehm

2019

Discip Interdscip Sci Educ Res

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This critical review examines the challenges and opportunities facing the field of Biology Education Research (BER). Ongoing disciplinary fragmentation is identified as a force working in opposition to the development of unifying conceptual frameworks for living systems and for understanding student thinking about living systems. A review of Concept Inventory (CI) research is used to illustrate how the absence of conceptual frameworks can complicate attempts to uncover student thinking about living systems and efforts to guide biology instruction. The review identifies possible starting points for the development of integrative cognitive and disciplinary frameworks for BER. First, relevant insights from developmental and cognitive psychology are reviewed and their connections are drawn to biology education. Second, prior theoretical work by biologists is highlighted as a starting point for reintegrating biology using discipline-focused frameworks. Specifically, three interdependent disciplinary themes are proposed as central to making sense of disciplinary core ideas: unity and diversity; randomness, probability, and contingency; and scale, hierarchy, and emergence. Overall, the review emphasizes that cognitive and conceptual grounding will help to foster much needed epistemic stability and guide the development of integrative empirical research agendas for BER.

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Investigating Novice and Expert Conceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

What College Biology Students Know about How Vaccines Work

What College Biology Students Know about How Vaccines Work

Undergraduate-level biology students’ application of central dogma to understand COVID mRNA vaccines

Biology education research: building integrative frameworks for teaching and learning about living systems

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