Evolution is an essential underlying concept in biology. Previous research demonstrates that many obstacles exist that prevent successful teaching and learning about evolution. This research study used the theoretical framework of cultural border crossing and its underlying cognitive explanation, collateral learning, to design an intervention for…

Natural Selection is prevalent throughout life science learning standards across K-12 contexts. Additionally, undergraduates who are interested in the fields of biology and education must also be well informed on the topic, as it is foundational to some biology research and necessary to touch upon within elementary and secondary classrooms. This…

The purpose of this study was to explore science teachers' conceptions about micro-and macro-evolutionary processes. In this study, a case study was employed to compare and contrast novice and experienced middle school science teachers' evolution conceptions. The data were collected using four micro-and macro-evolutionary scenarios alongside…

This paper gives an example of how to address the challenge of designing a learning progression that describes student thinking, with the necessary specificity to align instructional opportunities and assessment tools. We describe the Conceptual Underpinnings of Evolution project and the iterative process of developing a novel learning progression…

An understanding of biological variation is important for understanding ecological interactions, ecosystem function, and species' response to environmental change. Biological variation is essential to species survival because natural selection acts upon the phenotypic variation within a population: the more varied the population's genetic…

Central to evolution is the concept of a common ancestry from which all life has emerged over immense time scales, but learning and teaching temporal aspects of evolution remain challenging. This study investigated students' interpretation of evolutionary time when engaging with a multi-touch tabletop application called DeepTree, a dynamic…

The long geological time needed for landform development and evolution poses a challenge for understanding and appreciating the processes involved. The Web-based Interactive Landform Simulation Model--Grand Canyon (WILSIM-GC, http://serc.carleton.edu/landform/) is an educational tool designed to help students better understand such processes,…

Students regard evolutionary theory differently than science in general. Students' reported confidence in their ability to understand science in general (e.g., posing scientific questions, interpreting tables and graphs, and understanding the content of their biology course) significantly outweighed their confidence in understanding evolution. We…

Using conceptual change as theoretical lens, describes the structure of (n=4) learners' conceptual ecology within biological evolution and illustrates how this ecology influences the process of conceptual change. Prior conceptions relate to evolutionary theory, scientific and religious orientations, view of biological world, and acceptance of…