Learning Plant Adaptation in Middle School

Jeffrey Bockert
Kathy Griffis
Joe Wise
Kelli Millwood
Sara Terheggen
William A. Sandoval, University of California, Los Angeles
C L. Borgman, University of California, Los Angeles

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2003 CENS Annual Research Review

Abstract

This poster reports findings from a pilot study of a preliminary version of a CENS middle school inquiry module. The purpose of the pilot was to elicit students’ conceptions of plant evolution, especially leaf structure-function relationships in different environments. Pre-tests of students’ knowledge about plants and plant evolution confirmed our expectations that they lacked knowledge about leaf structure and function and about plant evolution. Post-tests, following approximately 13 hours of instruction, showed significant learning about leaf structure and function, but not plant evolution. Also, students performed better on short-answer questions on a post-test than on an essay that demanded they use conceptual knowledge to explain plant adaptation across environments. These results imply that a major design effort for CENS educational materials must be to help students integrate factual knowledge into coherent conceptual frameworks.