Epistemology and Biology Teaching: Obstacles to a Contemporary Conceptualisation of Living Organisms among Future Teachers and Biologists

Autor/in	Simard, Catherine
Titel	Epistemology and Biology Teaching: Obstacles to a Contemporary Conceptualisation of Living Organisms among Future Teachers and Biologists
Quelle	In: Journal of Biological Education, 57 (2023) 2, S.432-451 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Simard, Catherine)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9266
DOI	10.1080/00219266.2021.1924228
Schlagwörter	Epistemology; Biology; Science Instruction; Teaching Methods; Barriers; Scientific Concepts; Preservice Teachers; Science Teachers; Scientists; Scientific Literacy; Evolution; Science Education; Educational Quality + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Erkenntnistheorie; Biologie; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Scientist; Wissenschaftler; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität
Abstract	The historical dimension of biology attests to the various conceptions of living organisms that have governed the construction of scientific knowledge over time, some of which still persist today. The present study aimed to identify and characterise the various conceptions of living organisms held by future teachers and biologists and the influence of university education (with or without a scientific profile). The results show that animist, vitalist, finalist, evolutionist, interactionist, hereditary and behavioural determinist conceptions coexist in explaining living organisms and the university education with a scientific profile appears to promote current conceptions over outdated ones. Thus, 80.6% of future science teachers and biologists rejected metaphysical explanations of living organisms, whereas 55.3% of future elementary and secondary school teachers accepted them. Yet, the results of this study also brought out finalist explanations of living organisms among the majority of both profiles, without (90.6%) and with science (79.0%), indicating that a poor understanding of evolutionism still persists today, despite a well-developed science culture. The continued existence of "obstacle-conceptions" and the influence on them of a well-developed science culture points to the importance of the quality of science education for gaining a better grasp of the concepts related to living organisms. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01