Modelling students’ interpretation of diagrams of cell division

Abstract

Learning and teaching the concept of cell division relies heavily on the use of diagrams. Despite the potential benefits, various studies have revealed that understanding a diagram is not an easy task. Inappropriate use of diagrams may lead to alternative conceptions that persist until university level. Cell division is an important concept in biology that constitutes the basis for many other biological concepts such as Mendelian inheritance, evolution, genetic diseases, mutation as well as growth and development. Despite its importance, it has been reported that many students are not able to develop a scientific understanding of cell division. Many alternative conceptions of cell division have been identified, and similar ideas were expressed by student participants in both early studies and more recent ones. Hence, it is important for researchers and teachers to gain in-depth understanding of how students understand diagrams, especially when learning cell division. This study developed and tested a novel analytical model in order to model students’ interpretation of diagrams representing different phases of cell division. Participants were recruited after they had learnt about cell division (i.e., in the second semester of grade 10) on a voluntary basis from a local girls’ school. They were asked to interpret five diagrams that represent various phases in mitotic cell division (interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit their interpretation of diagrams. Different types of reasoning are delineated in the analysis, and empirical data are provided to validate several types of reasoning (assumption, reasoning heuristics and analytical reasoning) that may underlie students’ interpretations of the diagrams. Drawing on the literature, this study further classifies students’ reasoning into various categories, including essentialism and teleological assumptions, and anchoring, availability and reduction heuristics. These finding expands the literature and paves the way not only for further research into modelling students’ interpretation of diagrams in other science topics, but also further investigations of the learning and teaching of cell division. These findings also contribute to practice. Teachers can make better decisions about their selection of diagrams in teaching when they are knowledgeable about how students are likely to interpret diagrams. Different learning strategies can be adopted to facilitate students’ analytical reasoning and avoid heuristics that could lead to misinterpretations of diagrams.