Changing Minds? Implications of Conceptual Change for Teaching and Learning about Biological Evolution

By Gale M. Sinatra, Sarah K. Brem, E. Evans. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2008

235 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Learning about biological evolution presents particular challenges for students. Barriers to learning come in the form of students’ prior conceptions that conflict with the scientific perspective of biological change. Theory and research from developmental and educational psychology provide insight into these barriers. Helping students understand evolution is not simply a matter of adding to their existing knowledge, but rather, it means helping them to see the world in new and different ways. Theoretical perspectives on creating change in students’ conceptions have implications for teaching about biological evolution.

Subfields: Education, History and Philosophy of Science, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ce5bb4cff6c03aef4966eb0dfaf79df023ded42b

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Citations in the corpus

Transforming Misconceptions: Using Transformative Experience to Promote Positive Affect and Conceptual Change in Students Learning about Biological Evolution. (2013, background): “In addition to these challenges for understanding evolution, there are well-documented emotional and motivational barriers to overcome as well (Sinatra et al., 2008).”
The challenges of teaching and learning about science in the twenty-first century: exploring the abilities and constraints of adolescent learners (2012, background): “Adolescents are developing the cognitive skills necessary to grasp complex systems, although, like adults, they often mis-categorise emergent events (Slotta & Chi, 2006 ), have difficulty integrating information across system levels (Hmelo-Silver & Azevedo, 2006 ), focus on perceptually salient an”
Cognitive foundations for science assessment design: Knowing what students know about evolution (2012, background): “, Bishop & Anderson, 1990; Nehm & Reilly, 2007) and non-normative ideas refer to the cognitive biases outlined in the cognitive science literature (Sinatra et al., 2008).”