Department of Teacher Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
PLoS One. 2024 May 6;19(5):e0301090. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301090. eCollection 2024.
Understanding the nervous system is an important but perhaps ambitious goal, particularly for students in lower secondary education. It is important because of its' direct role in both mental and physical health, and it is ambitious because instruction focuses on the human nervous system, which is extremely complex, and subject to numerous misconceptions. Despite its' complexity, the science curricula, both nationally and internationally, emphasize an understanding of the system, and not just knowledge of isolated facts. But what does it mean to understand this system, and what content knowledge is critical for understanding it? Unfortunately, the curricula are usually too general to answer these questions, therefore other sources of information are needed. Using the science literature, the present study defines the system level of the nervous system and proposes three basic aspects necessary to understand it: 1) neural circuit architecture, 2) synaptic action, and 3) nerve signal origin. With this background, the aim of the present study is to identify lower secondary school students' conceptions of these three aspects, and to determine how they impact students' understanding of the system. To reach this aim, the study used a questionary which allowed for a mixed method design, and the results show that many students have an immediate conception of the brain as the origin of nerve signals. In addition, many students hold the alternative conceptions that 1) synaptic action is exclusively excitatory, and that 2) neural circuits consists of neurons connected in a chain, one single neuron after another. These alternative conceptions prevent students from understanding the system. Implications for instruction are discussed in the context of conceptual learning theories, and teaching strategies are proposed. Since similar curricula goals and textbook content exist in several countries, the present results may be representative across nations.
理解神经系统是一个重要但也许具有挑战性的目标，尤其是对于中学低年级的学生而言。之所以重要，是因为它直接关系到心理和身体健康；之所以具有挑战性，是因为教学重点是人类神经系统，它极其复杂，并且容易产生许多误解。尽管神经系统很复杂，但国家和国际科学课程都强调理解该系统，而不仅仅是了解孤立的事实。但是，理解这个系统意味着什么，理解它需要哪些关键的内容知识呢？不幸的是，课程通常过于笼统，无法回答这些问题，因此需要其他信息来源。本研究利用科学文献，定义了神经系统的系统水平，并提出了理解神经系统所需的三个基本方面：1）神经回路结构，2）突触作用，3）神经信号起源。在此背景下，本研究旨在确定中学生对这三个方面的概念理解，并确定它们如何影响学生对系统的理解。为了达到这个目的，本研究使用了一份问卷，允许采用混合方法设计，结果表明，许多学生对大脑作为神经信号起源有直观的认识。此外，许多学生持有以下替代概念：1）突触作用完全是兴奋性的，以及 2）神经回路由神经元链连接而成，一个接一个。这些替代概念妨碍了学生对系统的理解。在概念学习理论的背景下讨论了教学的影响，并提出了教学策略。由于几个国家都存在类似的课程目标和教科书内容，因此本研究的结果可能具有代表性。
