Guiding students’ explanations across levels of biological organisation: the case of wilted plants

ABSTRACT

Explanation of natural phenomena at one level of biological organisation almost always involves causes that are found at other levels. Although scientists thinking across levels find it easy to explain physiological phenomena, students often perceive this as a challenge. We developed a new graphic organiser called Zoom Map, which is a mode for structuring biological information along the levels of biological organisation and is designed to guide biology students when they need to consider the levels of organisation. The aim of this study is to examine how Zoom Map helps students explain a common phenomenon in plant physiology: leaves that are upright or wilted. Accordingly, we designed a teaching experiment covering 13 students. During the experiments, the students were videotaped. We used qualitative content analysis to examine the explanations. Our findings indicate that Zoom Map improved students’ explanations of the phenomenon across multiple levels of organisation: The students used more levels than before, and they referred to lower levels that were lacking previously. Therefore, it can be concluded that students who use Zoom Map are supported in their ability to explain a biological phenomenon across the levels of biological organisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Biology
• systems thinking
• levels of organisation
• graphic organiser
• concept maps
• teaching experiments

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Niklas Schneeweiß

Niklas Schneeweiß completed his Master of Education at Leibniz Universität Hannover. There he worked at the Institute for Science Education as a research assistant. He is a science teacher at an integrated comprehensive school in Hannover. In his research, he focuses on digital media, students’ conceptions and systems thinking. The development of Zoom Map is part of his PhD project.

Leona Mölgen

Leona Mölgen is currently completing her Master of Education with the subjects Biology and German. She is a research assistant at the Institute for Science Education in Hannover.

Harald Gropengießer

Harald Gropengießer is a Professor Emeritus for Biology Education at Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany. After teaching biology and chemistry for ten years at a high school (Gymnasium), he worked as a research associate at the department for biology education at the University of Oldenburg. He was awarded a Dr. rer. nat. for his dissertation that unfolds the Model of Educational Reconstruction and exemplifies its research design. He habilitated in the field of biology education with a study on the theory of experience-based understanding, that utilizes embodied cognition together with conceptual metaphor theory for the interpretation of learners’ statements and the design of learning opportunities. Furthermore, his interests focus on students’ conceptions and teacher education.