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Abstract Detail


Are We Having A Broader Impact?

Gibson, J. Phil [1].

Evolution and Assessment: Lessons From A Tree-thinking Curriculum.

Scientists who are interested in science education often use the same methodology in pedagogical studies that they apply their own biological research. While this approach can provide useful values from assessment instruments such as means, variances, and other measures of student performance, it may not provide a full picture of student understanding and learning nor will it expose all of the information that the data contain. For the past three years, I have investigated how an introductory biology curriculum based on tree-thinking relates to students' understanding and acceptance of biological evolution. Analysis of the results from several instruments has shown that as students improve their skills at tree-thinking there is also a significant increase in their acceptance of evolution. However, it was only through methods of analysis that are standard components of education research (but not necessarily common in biostatistics) that it was possible to tease out the interesting pieces of the assessment data to gain greater insights on how tree-thinking may be related to students accepting and understanding evolution.

Broader Impacts:


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1 - University of Oklahoma, Department of Botany & Microbiology, 770 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

Keywords:
Tree-thinking
Evolution
Science Education
Assessment.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY02
Location: Delaware B/Hyatt
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2012
Time: 9:45 AM
Number: SY02004
Abstract ID:157


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