Abstract
Biology helps students to understand the environment and expects students to develop awareness, positive attitudes, scientific temper, values and skills. From life processes, students develop an understanding of basic structure and functions and their interrelationship. Much research on students’ understanding of biological concepts has shown that students possess misconceptions of many concepts that are basic to a thorough knowledge of biology and leave secondary school with a distorted view of biological objects and events. In this research, students and teachers’ ideas about life processes were collected via an open-ended questionnaire, interviews and textbook analysis. The data were used to develop the Concept-Based Objective Test. The author analysed the rationale behind the misconceptions in life processes among students and teachers and found that misconceptions in life processes among students and teachers vary in nature, consequence and tenacity. The most important reason determined for these difficulties is the close relationship of various biology concepts and sub-concepts with each other. The author found that in the textbook analysed, the explanation of these concepts was abstract, complex, incomplete, ill-structured and erroneously interpreted. The study also found that the various biological processes are taught independently and that there is a need to help students to understand the interrelationship among the concepts and sub-concepts. Therefore, in the teaching and learning of biology, it’s essential to provide effective, complete and accurate understanding of sub-concepts and concepts.
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Deshmukh, N.D. (2015). Why Do School Students Have Misconceptions About Life Processes?. In: Gnanamalar Sarojini Daniel, E. (eds) Biology Education and Research in a Changing Planet. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-524-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-524-2_4
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