Understanding biological concepts at university – Investigating learning in medical and teacher education

The aim of this dissertation was to contribute to domain-specific science learning at the university based on the research traditions of conceptual change and science learning and teaching. Previous research has shown that students have prior conceptions about scientific phenomena that often conflict with the scientific explanation and that may thus hinder or even prevent the learning of complex concepts and processes in the educational/school context. However, previous research has mainly focused on studying the conceptions of younger students. This thesis focused on the university level, and the aim was to explore teacher education students’ conceptions of photosynthesis and medical students’ conceptions of the central cardiovascular system. Teacher and medical education students were chosen for examination because in both study programs, learning certain biological phenomena is essential. Additionally, text-based learning plays a significant role in both study programs. In this study, the development of students’ conceptions related to photosynthesis and the central cardiovascular system were studied. In addition, the roles of different texts in learning and medical diagnosing processes were investigated. The approach was both longitudinal and cross-sectional, extending the view from the group level to the single case level, including the recording of eye movements. The results showed that university students have several alarming misconceptions relating to particular scientific topics. Moreover, among medical students, the level of biomedical understanding seemed to be related to the level of clinical reasoning. However, a high-level text that specifically pointed out typical misconceptions, known as a refutational text, seemed to support learning more effectively than did a traditional text. In addition, the eye movements of medical students and internal medicine residents while reading a patient case revealed that a so-called illness script pattern seemed to be distinguishable, which highlights the importance of teaching diagnosis processes by modelling the processes of experts. To conclude, the need to develop science teaching and learning, which suggests both educational and domain-specific understanding, is evident at the university level. New teaching and learning practices, together with innovative materials, are proposed based on the results of this dissertation.Biologian käsitteiden oppimisen haasteet yliopistossa luokanopettajan ja lääkärin ammattiin valmistavissa koulutusohjelmissa Väitöstutkimus kohdistuu vaativien biologian sisältöjen ymmärtämiseen yliopistotasolla. Näkökulmana ovat erityisesti käsitteellisen muutoksen sekä tiedeoppimisen ja opetuksen tutkimustraditiot. Aikaisemmat tutkimukset ovat kiistatta osoittaneet, että oppilailla on runsaasti aikaisempiin kokemuksiinsa perustuvia ennakkokäsityksiä opiskeltavista luonnontieteiden sisällöistä, ja usein nämä käsitykset ovat ristiriidassa tieteellisen selityksen kanssa saattaen hankaloittaa tai jopa estää tieteellisen mallin oppimista. Aikaisempi tutkimus on kuitenkin voimakkaasti keskittynyt peruskouluikäisten oppilaiden käsitysten tutkimiseen. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin luokanopettajaopiskelijoiden käsityksiä fotosynteesin ja lääketieteen opiskelijoiden käsityksiä verenkiertoelimistön sisältöalueista. Kyseiset koulutusohjelmat valittiin tukittaviksi, sillä molemmissa tiettyjen biologian sisältöjen ymmärtäminen sekä erilaisten tekstien hyödyntäminen ovat olennaisia taitoja. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin ensinnäkin tutkittavien käsityksiä ja käsitysten muuttumista kyseisiin sisältöihin liittyen. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin erilaisten tekstien roolia oppimisen tukena ja potilasdiagnosointien tekemisessä. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin kolmivuotista pitkittäistutkimusta sekä poikkileikkausasetelmia syventäen näkökulmaa ryhmätasolta aina yksittäisen oppijan prosessoinnin tarkasteluun silmänliikkeiden avulla. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että yliopisto-opiskelijoilla on huolestuttavan runsaasti virhekäsityksiä kyseisistä biologian keskeisistä sisältöalueista. Lääketieteen kontekstissa biomedikaalinen ymmärrys oli yhteydessä kliinisen päättelyn tasoon. Tulokset kuitenkin myös osoittivat, että korkeatasoinen niin kutsuttu törmäyttävä teksti, joka tukee virhekäsitysten muokkaamista kohti tieteellistä ymmärrystä, voi edistää oppimista tehokkaammin kuin perinteinen, selittävä teksti. Tulokset edelleen paljastivat, että sekä lääketieteen erikoistuvien lääkäreiden että parhaiten menestyvien lääketieteen opiskelijoiden lukuprosesseissa aikaisempien potilastapausten aktivointi oli erotettavissa silmänliikkeissä. Tämä mahdollistaa asiantuntijoiden silmänliikkeiden käytön diagnosointiprosessin mallittamisessa. Näin ollen tämän väitöstutkimuksen osatutkimusten tulosten pohjalta nousee tarve kehittää biologian oppimista ja opetusta yliopistotasolla, mikä edellyttää sekä kasvatustieteen että ainespesifien sisältöjen tutkimusperusteista ymmärtämistä. Tulosten avulla ehdotetaankin uusia opetuksen ja oppimisen käytäntöjä sekä ideoita uusien innovatiivisten oppimateriaalien kehittämiseksi.Siirretty Doriast

Lexicons of Key Terms in Scholarly Texts and Their Disciplinary Differences: From Quantum Semantics Construction to Relative-Entropy-Based Comparisons

Complex networks are often used to analyze written text and reports by rendering texts in the form of a semantic network, forming a lexicon of words or key terms. Many existing methods to construct lexicons are based on counting word co-occurrences, having the advantage of simplicity and ease of applicability. Here, we use a quantum semantics approach to generalize such methods, allowing us to model the entanglement of terms and words. We show how quantum semantics can be applied to reveal disciplinary differences in the use of key terms by analyzing 12 scholarly texts that represent the different positions of various disciplinary schools (of conceptual change research) on the same topic (conceptual change). In addition, attention is paid to how closely the lexicons corresponding to different positions can be brought into agreement by suitable tuning of the entanglement factors. In comparing the lexicons, we invoke complex network-based analysis based on exponential matrix transformation and use information theoretic relative entropy (Jensen–Shannon divergence) as the operationalization of differences between lexicons. The results suggest that quantum semantics is a viable way to model the disciplinary differences of lexicons and how they can be tuned for a better agreement

Lexicons in conceptual change research : Exploration of twelve research papers

Conceptual change (cc) research tradition is not a single theory, but includes different branches and theoretical models. In these models, somewhat unsystematic use of terminology exists. This study investigates the terminology, lexicons and their overlapping in twelve central scientific articles within cc-research field utilizing a network analysis tool. The articles were selected based on certain criteria representing seminal articles, different cc-branches and reviews and they were published between 1982 and 2018. The study contributes to the discussion about the need of unifying the used terminology, when similar constructs are handled with different terms among the cc-tradition. The study provides a new methodological tool to explore and visualize the occurrence of concepts and inter-relatedness of them among cc-literature. The semantic network analysis reveals similarity in terminology of texts that belong to supposedly same kind of cc-research traditions, and on the other hand, clearly lower similarity between texts in different traditions. The results also show that there has attempts to unify the key-terminology in review articles, but these initiatives have not affected the terminology used texts that belong opposing disciplinary groups. Identifying the overlapping in different models would enable the meaningful unifying of terminology, which again is suggested to be desirable for the future theoretical progress of cc-research.Peer reviewe

Lexicons of Key Terms in Scholarly Texts and Their Disciplinary Differences: From Quantum Semantics Construction to Relative-Entropy-Based Comparisons

Complex networks are often used to analyze written text and reports by rendering texts in the form of a semantic network, forming a lexicon of words or key terms. Many existing methods to construct lexicons are based on counting word co-occurrences, having the advantage of simplicity and ease of applicability. Here, we use a quantum semantics approach to generalize such methods, allowing us to model the entanglement of terms and words. We show how quantum semantics can be applied to reveal disciplinary differences in the use of key terms by analyzing 12 scholarly texts that represent the different positions of various disciplinary schools (of conceptual change research) on the same topic (conceptual change). In addition, attention is paid to how closely the lexicons corresponding to different positions can be brought into agreement by suitable tuning of the entanglement factors. In comparing the lexicons, we invoke complex network-based analysis based on exponential matrix transformation and use information theoretic relative entropy (Jensen–Shannon divergence) as the operationalization of differences between lexicons. The results suggest that quantum semantics is a viable way to model the disciplinary differences of lexicons and how they can be tuned for a better agreement

First-year pharmacy students' prior knowledge correlates with study progress and reveals different dynamics of misconceptions

The varying levels and quality of students’ prior knowledge pose a challenge for instruction at university. Due to the scarcity of studies in pharmacy, in this study pharmacy students (N=126) prior knowledge of biosciences was measured at the beginning of their first study year using a questionnaire comprising ten multiple choice questions and a case task. The results of multiple-choice and open-ended questions revealed serious gaps and different-level misconceptions in students’ answers partly related to the absence of elementary knowledge. The level of prior knowledge correlated with study progress measured at the end of the first study year. The study’s findings suggest that it is possible to identify students at risk of delayed studies using this kind of relatively light pre-test. Problem-solving tasks such as case descriptions can be used to detect potential misconceptions. The pedagogical implications of these results are discussed.Peer reviewe

Case processing in supporting the development of expertise in pharmacy - an eye movement study

The purpose of this study is to utilize process-level analyses to investigate pharmacy students’ reasoning during solving a written case task that handled acute patient counseling situation in the pharmacy. Participants’ (N = 34) problem-solving processes were investigated using the eye-tracking method together with written tasks and 2nd (n = 16) and 3rd (n = 18) –year students’ processes were compared. The text included semantically different level sentences: task-relevant sentences including essential information for the solution and task-redundant sentences that contained irrelevant or misleading information. The results showed that students differed in their performance and only four 2nd year students solved the case correctly, whereas almost all of the graduating students were successful. Further, most of those students, who ended up with a correct solution had presented a correct working hypothesis already after reading the first text page. Generally, the average total reading times did not differ between the comparison groups. However, better-succeeding students read significantly longer the very first task-relevant sentences of the case task indicating that they were able to focus on relevant information and discard the task-redundant text parts. Based on the results, pedagogical suggestions for advancing higher education are discussed.Peer reviewe

First-Year Life Science Students’ Understanding of the Role of Plants in the Ecosystem : A Concept Network Analysis

The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding about undergraduate life science students’ conceptions concerning the role of photosynthesizing plants in the ecosystem, utilizing a network analysis method. Science learning requires the integration and linking of abstract and often counterintuitive concepts successfully into multifaceted networks. The quality of these networks, together with their abilities to communicate via the language of science, influences students’ success in academic, verbal problem-solving tasks. This study contributes to investigating students’ understanding, utilizing a modern network analysis method in exploring first-year university life science students’ written answers. In this study, a total of 150 first-year life science students answered two open-ended tasks related to the role of photosynthesizing plants in the ecosystem. A network analysis tool was used in exploring the occurrence of different-level science concepts and the interrelatedness between these concepts in students’ verbal outputs. The results showed that the richness of concept networks and students’ use of macro-concepts were remarkably varied between the tasks. Higher communicability measures were connected to the more abundant existence of macro-concepts in the task concerning the role of plants from the food-chain perspective. In the answers for the task concerning the role of plants regarding the atmosphere, the students operated mainly with single facts, and there were only minor interconnections made between the central concepts. On the basis of these results, the need for more all-encompassing biology teaching concerning complex environmental and socio-economic problems became evident. Thus, methodological and pedagogical contributions are discussed

Conceptual change challenges in medicine during professional development

This study investigates professional development during medical studies from a conceptual change perspective. Medical students’ conceptual understanding and clinical reasoning concerning the central cardiovascular system were investigated during the first three years of study. Professional development was inspected from the perspectives of biomedical knowledge, clinical knowledge and skills needed to solve a patient case. Biomedical misconceptions regarding false beliefs and mental models were detected. Students with misconceptions were more likely to give lower level answers in clinical application tasks and to make inaccurate diagnoses compared to those students who had accurate conceptual understanding. Based on the results, pedagogical suggestions are discussed.This study investigates professional development during medical studies from a conceptual change perspective. Medical students’ conceptual understanding and clinical reasoning concerning the central cardiovascular system were investigated during the first three years of study. Professional development was inspected from the perspectives of biomedical knowledge, clinical knowledge and skills needed to solve a patient case. Biomedical misconceptions regarding false beliefs and mental models were detected. Students with misconceptions were more likely to give lower level answers in clinical application tasks and to make inaccurate diagnoses compared to those students who had accurate conceptual understanding. Based on the results, pedagogical suggestions are discussed.Peer reviewe

Heuristics Hindering the Development of Understanding of Molecular Structures in University Level Chemistry Education: The Lewis Structure as an Example

Understanding chemical models can be challenging for many university students studying chemistry. This study analysed students’ understanding of molecular structures using the Lewis structure as a model, and examined what hinders their understanding. We conducted pre- and post-tests to analyse students’ conceptions and changes in them. The measures contained multiple-choice questions and drawing tasks testing their understanding of concepts, such as polarity, geometry, charge or formal charge and expanded octet. The pre-test revealed a lack of knowledge and several misconceptions in students’ prior knowledge. For example, the concept of polarity was well-known, but the combination of polarity and geometry appeared to be difficult. For some students, the representation of molecules was intuitive and lacking a systematic approach. Certain students used mnemonics and draw ball-and-stick models connected to surficial representations. After the chemistry courses, the conceptions and drawings had generally changed, and the level of the students’ knowledge increased markedly. Although, fewer ball-and-stick models were drawn in the post-test, some students still used them. The main result was that students who drew ball-and-stick models in the pre-test were less capable of drawing the correct Lewis structures with electrons in the post-test. In addition, heuristics seem to hinder learning and some concepts, such as resonance, remained difficult. This is probably due to the fact that understanding molecular structures requires systemic understanding, where several matters must be understood at the same time. Our study highlights that the understanding of molecular structures requires conceptual change related to several sub-concepts.Peer reviewe