*Department of Biological Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA; Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Integr Comp Biol. 2008 Aug;48(2):226-40. doi: 10.1093/icb/icn064. Epub 2008 Jun 24.
University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understanding of science in general and of evolution in particular. A rich research literature suggests that inquiry-based pedagogies are more effective in producing meaningful learning than are traditional, didactic approaches. A pragmatic investigation into the efficacy of inquiry-based curricular reforms compared to traditional laboratory activities was undertaken in the introductory biology course for majors at a large state university in the southeastern United States. The topics of the course focused on biodiversity, evolution, and plant and animal anatomy and physiology. Students' learning in the inquiry versus traditional units was compared using both a test of pre-post content knowledge as well as open-ended written responses in which students described events in which there was meaningful learning and conceptual changes. The pre-post tests were replicated over five semesters of the same course (n = 1493 students). Students' misconceptions as well as examples of meaningful learning were gathered for two semesters in the same course (n = 518 students). Results consistently revealed that descriptive, concrete topics such as anatomy can be taught effectively using traditional didactic methods; average effect sizes (a measure of the difference between pretest scores and posttest scores) range from 1.8 to 2.1. The inquiry units also increased knowledge of content on the topics of evolution and biodiversity by a significant degree (average effect sizes range from 1.0 to 1.1), despite the fact that students spent less than half the instructional time on these units compared to the didactic units. In addition, a literature review indicated that highly abstract or mathematical concepts such as evolution or geologic time require greater formal reasoning ability and that students often show lesser gains in these areas compared to more concrete topics. It was therefore especially notable that the frequency of meaningful learning events was significantly higher in the units on evolution compared to the traditional units (χ(2) P < 0.5 to 0.001). A catalog of students' misconceptions (some of which were quite unexpected) was also generated and found useful for future teaching. Therefore, we feel that when time and resources for curricular reform are limited, those efforts should prioritize abstract and foundational topics such as evolution. Didactic teaching appears sufficient for more concrete topics such as anatomy.
大学教师经常对学生对科学的理解的准确性感到沮丧，尤其是对进化论的理解。丰富的研究文献表明，基于探究的教学方法比传统的讲授方法更能有效地产生有意义的学习。在美国东南部的一所大型州立大学的生物学专业入门课程中，对基于探究的课程改革与传统实验室活动的效果进行了务实的调查。该课程的主题集中在生物多样性、进化以及动植物解剖学和生理学上。通过使用预-后内容知识测试以及学生描述有意义的学习和概念变化的开放式书面回答，比较了学生在探究与传统单元中的学习情况。该测试在同一门课程的五个学期中进行了复制（n = 1493 名学生）。在同一门课程的两个学期中收集了学生的误解以及有意义学习的例子（n = 518 名学生）。结果一致表明，描述性、具体的主题，如解剖学，可以通过传统的讲授方法有效地教授；平均效应量（衡量前测分数和后测分数之间的差异）范围从 1.8 到 2.1。尽管与传统单元相比，学生在这些单元上花费的教学时间不到一半，但探究单元也显著增加了进化和生物多样性主题的知识（平均效应量范围从 1.0 到 1.1）。此外，文献综述表明，像进化或地质时间这样高度抽象或数学的概念需要更强的形式推理能力，学生在这些领域的表现往往不如更具体的主题。因此，值得注意的是，与传统单元相比，进化单元中的有意义学习事件的频率明显更高（χ(2) P < 0.5 至 0.001）。还生成了学生误解的目录（其中一些非常出乎意料），并发现对未来教学很有用。因此，我们认为，当课程改革的时间和资源有限时，这些努力应该优先考虑进化等抽象和基础的主题。对于像解剖学这样更具体的主题，讲授式教学就足够了。
