Understanding Randomness on a Molecular Level: A Diagnostic Tool
In a recent “CBE–Life Science Education” paper the Center for Active Learning (D-BIOL) and the Kapur lab (D-GESS) present a novel tool and its use to test students’ grasp of molecular randomness, revealing the dimensions and the evolution of conceptual understanding with growing expertise.
Undergraduate natural science students’ understanding of stochastic processes on the molecular level often remains limited to those examples discussed in class, and students show difficulties in transferring their knowledge to other contexts. However, reliable measures to assess their levels of understanding are lacking, and more detailed insights into student reasoning on this topic are required to address students’ misconceptions of this concept. Thus, we developed a diagnostic tool to assess the extent of students’ conceptual understanding and administered the test to natural science students at various levels of university education.
The study suggests that the novel tool reveals valid and reliable estimates of students’ comprehension of molecular stochasticity. Moreover, we demonstrate the dimensions as well as the deeply rooted limitations of students’ understanding and propose a model of how the latter changes with increasing expertise, from explaining such processes through directed movements or active decision-making to the scientifically accurate model. The findings might support educators in assessing the degree of understanding in their classrooms and adjusting teaching to tackle associated misconceptions directly.
Link to the paper in external page "CBE–Life Science Education".