Drawing on Student Knowledge in Human Anatomy and Physiology

• Main Author: Slominski, Tara
• Format: Others
• Published: North Dakota State University 2018
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10365/27280

Prior to instruction, students may have developed alternative conceptions about the mechanics behind human physiology. To help students re-shape these ideas into correct reasoning, the faulty characteristics reinforcing the alternative conceptions need to made explicit. This study used student-generated drawings to expose alternative conceptions Human Anatomy and Physiology students had prior to instruction on neuron physiology. Specifically, we investigated how students thought about neuron communication across a synapse (n=355) and how neuron activity can be modified (n=311). When asked to depict basic communication between two neurons, at least 80% of students demonstrated incorrect ideas about synaptic transmission. When targeting spatial and temporal summation, only eleven students (3.5%) were able to accurately depict at least one form of summation. In response to both drawing questions, student drawings revealed multiple alternative conceptions that resulted in a deeper analysis and characterization of the wide variation of student ideas. === North Dakota State University. Department of Biological Sciences === National Science Foundation (NSF DUE-0833268)