Professorship for Learning Sciences and Higher Education and.
Department of Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2023 Jun;22(2):ar17. doi: 10.1187/cbe.22-05-0097.
Undergraduate biology students' molecular-level understanding of stochastic (also referred to as random or noisy) processes found in biological systems is often limited to those examples discussed in class. Therefore, students frequently display little ability to accurately transfer their knowledge to other contexts. Furthermore, elaborate tools to assess students' understanding of these stochastic processes are missing, despite the fundamental nature of this concept and the increasing evidence demonstrating its importance in biology. Thus, we developed the Molecular Randomness Concept Inventory (MRCI), an instrument composed of nine multiple-choice questions based on students' most prevalent misconceptions, to quantify students' understanding of stochastic processes in biological systems. The MRCI was administered to 67 first-year natural science students in Switzerland. The psychometric properties of the inventory were analyzed using classical test theory and Rasch modeling. Moreover, think-aloud interviews were conducted to ensure response validity. Results indicate that the MRCI yields valid and reliable estimations of students' conceptual understanding of molecular randomness in the higher educational setting studied. Ultimately, the performance analysis sheds light on the extent and the limitations of students' understanding of the concept of stochasticity on a molecular level.
本科生物专业学生对生物系统中随机（也称为随机或嘈杂）过程的分子水平理解通常仅限于课堂上讨论的那些例子。因此，学生通常几乎没有能力将他们的知识准确地转移到其他情境中。此外，尽管这个概念具有基础性，而且越来越多的证据表明它在生物学中很重要，但仍然缺乏评估学生对这些随机过程理解的精细工具。因此，我们开发了分子随机性概念量表（MRCI），这是一种由九个多项选择题组成的工具，基于学生最普遍的误解，用于量化学生对生物系统中随机过程的理解。MRCI 在瑞士的 67 名自然科学一年级学生中进行了测试。使用经典测试理论和 Rasch 模型分析了该量表的心理测量学特性。此外，还进行了出声思维访谈以确保回答的有效性。结果表明，在研究的高等教育环境中，MRCI 可以对学生对分子随机性的概念理解进行有效且可靠的估计。最终，通过表现分析揭示了学生在分子水平上对随机性概念的理解的程度和局限性。
