Difficulties learning about the cell. Expectations vs. reality

Abstract

The cell is a key concept, and accurate knowledge of it is essential for understanding many phenomena and biological processes, as well as the overall functioning of living beings. However, learning about this concept is not simple. Regarding this concept, we examined the views concerning problems that could be encountered by Master’s students training to become future teachers of natural science, compared to the difficulties suffered by a group of students in their last two years of high school. The results show the students’ learning about the cell appeared to be negatively influenced by the methodology used in classroom, being this type of difficulties the most reported by the high-school students, followed by difficulties with matters associated with the functional role of the cell. However, the methodology limitations have been the least considered by future teachers. By contrast, they consider the structural aspects of the cell as more likely to be problematic for students, followed by the functional ones. Problems concerning sizes and scales arose similarly in both cases, implying a widespread problem.

Keywords:

• Cell
• learning difficulties
• structural characteristics
• functional role
• size and scale

Acknowledgements

This research has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the students of the last two years in the high school ‘Ángel Ganivet’ and the students of the Master's degree in Teacher Training of the University of Granada, owing to their participation through the data collection in the questionnaires. We appreciate the collaboration of the high-school teachers and the university professors for allowing us to proceed according to plan. The comments and help of Francisco González García and Mª Carmen Romero López improved a previous version of the manuscript. David Nesbitt improved the English.