Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss

Kamali N. Sripathi; Rosa A. Moscarella; Rachel Yoho; Hye Sun You; Mark Urban-Lurain; John Merrill; Kevin Haudek

doi:10.1187/cbe.18-11-0227

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Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss

Kamali N. Sripathi, Rosa A. Moscarella, Rachel Yoho, Hye Sun You, Mark Urban-Lurain, John Merrill and Kevin Haudek

CBE life sciences education, Vol.18(3), pp.ar37-ar37

09/01/2019

DOI: 10.1187/cbe.18-11-0227

PMCID: PMC6755313

PMID: 31418653

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Abstract

Recent calls for college biology education reform have identified "pathways and transformations of matter and energy" as a big idea in biology crucial for students to learn. Previous work has been conducted on how college students think about such matter-transforming processes; however, little research has investigated how students connect these ideas. Here, we probe student thinking about matter transformations in the familiar context of human weight loss. Our analysis of 1192 student constructed responses revealed three scientific (which we label "Normative") and five less scientific (Which we label "Developing") ideas that students use to explain weight loss. Additionally, students combine these ideas in their responses, with an average number of 2.19 +/- 1.07 ideas per response, and 74.4% of responses containing two or more ideas. These results highlight the extent to which students hold multiple (both correct and incorrect) ideas about complex biological processes. We described student responses as conforming to either Scientific, Mixed, or Developing descriptive models, which had an average of 1.9 +/- 0.6, 3.1 +/- 0.9, and 1.7 +/- 0.8 ideas per response, respectively. Such heterogeneous student thinking is characteristic of difficulties in both conceptual change and early expertise development and will require careful instructional intervention for lasting learning gains.

Education & Educational Research

Education, Scientific Disciplines

Social Sciences

Details

Title: Subtitle: Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss
Creators: Kamali N. Sripathi - Michigan State University
Rosa A. Moscarella - University of Massachusetts Amherst
Rachel Yoho - Miami University
Hye Sun You - Arkansas Tech University
Mark Urban-Lurain - Michigan State University
John Merrill - Michigan State University
Kevin Haudek - Michigan State University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: CBE life sciences education, Vol.18(3), pp.ar37-ar37
DOI: 10.1187/cbe.18-11-0227
PMID: 31418653
PMCID: PMC6755313
NLM abbreviation: CBE Life Sci Educ
ISSN: 1931-7913
eISSN: 1931-7913
Publisher: Amer Soc Cell Biology
Number of pages: 17
Grant note: 1323162; 1347740 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Language: English
Date published: 09/01/2019
Academic Unit: Teaching and Learning
Record Identifier: 9984371263102771

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