Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
To cite this article: Fernando Flores , Ma Eugenia Tovar & Leticia Gallegos (2003) Representation
of the cell and its processes in high school students: An integrated view, International Journal of
Science Education, 25:2, 269-286, DOI: 10.1080/09500690210126793
RESEARCH REPORT
This paper presents an integrated view of the ideas and conceptual problems of high school students
with respect to the cell, its processes, structure and relation to the functions of multicellular organisms.
The theme of cell has divided into eight topics, with a questionnaire for each topic. In these topics,
different levels of representation and understanding are distinguished between general considerations
about plants and animals, those connected with processes at organ and system levels and, finally, the
level of cell processes. Data from 1200 students were analysed. Results show that students have an
analogical mechanism that establishes an isomorphism between the representation of the functioning of
multicellular organisms of cell processes. A series of problems in understanding was also shown. Results
imply that these problems are mainly due to students’ lack of differentiation between some processes at
organism and organ level, and have important implications for learning this subject. Finally, some
suggestions are made for teaching.
Introduction
Research into previous biological ideas and conceptual representations of students
is scarce. Over 400 pieces of research have been carried out (Pfund and Duit 1999)
that fundamentally focus on such subjects as: general biology (133); different
aspects related to the human being such as health, disease, constitution and func-
tioning systems (53); genetics (48); evolution (43); the cell (34); ecology (31); the
concept of life or being alive (28); photosynthesis (27); and the characteristics and
function of animals (17).
A few studies were made in Mexico (León et al. 1995). For example, some
research has been done in physics with high school students (Jara 1991, Flores and
Gallegos 1993, 1998). However, little research has been carried out into biology
and most of it has been aimed at primary school students (Gallegos et al. 1994).
This shows the need to continue and broaden this type of research into biological
subjects. Research into prior ideas in biology shows no integral characterization of
student’s representations from different educational levels of these basic concepts.
The purpose of this work is to contribute in this field among high school students
(15–18 years old) with respect to cells, attempting to give an integrated view of the
situation. To this end, the following issues have been addressed:
International Journal of Science Education ISSN 0950–0693 print/ISSN 1464–5289 online # 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/09500690210126793
270 F. FLORES ET AL.
. determination of prior ideas of high school students about cell structure and
functions;
. identification of correlations between prior ideas and some specific prob-
lems related to conceptual understanding;
. establishment of relationships between prior ideas about cell structure and
the functioning and level of multicellular organization.
State of the research into ideas about the cell and cell
processes
Cells as a theme of study is characterized as difficult to understand by students at
different educational levels. Conceptual problems range from the understanding of
the cell as an autonomous organism and the functions it performs to difficulties in
its spatial and metrical representations, resulting in confusions between cells,
atoms and molecules. In particular, the establishment of relationships between
cell structures and their functions are especially complex for students who are
not able to integrate them into an overall picture. The lack of such relationships
does not allow them to understand such processes as respiration, reproduction,
nutrition or genetic regulation mechanisms and organelle composition.
Some of the prior ideas to be found in the literature that students have of the
cell and the relationships between the cell and some functions of multicellular
organisms are summarized below. These ideas are divided into three sections:
previous ideas of secondary school students, previous ideas of high school students
and previous ideas of students in higher education.
Justification
As can be seen from the above review, there are diverse views involved in cell
processes and their relationship with other aspects of living beings. Such views do
not permit the construction of an articulated and differentiated representation at
272 F. FLORES ET AL.
the high school level that provides elements for a transition from multicellular
organisms to cell processes.
Taking this and the absence of work with Mexican high school students into
account, this piece of research was carried out with the following aims:
. to identify previous ideas that high school students might have about ‘cell’;
. to determine levels of understanding that students might have in relation to
a cell’s role in the structure and functioning of multicellular organisms;
. to identify problems in understanding concepts and relationships respecting
the cell and its functions;
. to provide an integral view of the representation of the cell.
Methodology
Research questions were: what representation do high school students have of the
cell as a structural and functional organization? What analogical origins of the
representations of functions of the cell do the students know? What previous
ideas are fundamental for their constructions? What conceptual problems are
implicit in their prior ideas?
Instruments
Given the breadth and complexity of the subject, it was divided into eight topics
and a questionnaire was constructed for each one. In order to define the topics,
various texts and programmes from the Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades (a
high school college belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico
where the study was carried out) were analysed. The topics are: (1) respiration; (2)
water in plants; (3) water in animals; (4) plant nutrition; (5) animal nutrition; (6)
cell shapes; (7) cell size and (8) reproduction.
In all cases, each questionnaire started with general biological processes, fol-
lowed by processes and functions at the level of multicellular organisms and their
organs and ended with the processes at cell level. Interviews were added to ques-
tionnaires. Questionnaires constituted the main source of information and inter-
views were used to obtain more precise information on some ideas and problems in
understanding. Questionnaires were constructed with two types of questions: mul-
tiple choice that gave information about general ideas and multiple choice in which
answers had to be justified. The average number of questions per questionnaire
was 12. Questionnaires were validated by specialists, teachers, and with prior
applications and split half reliability tests that produced average values of 0.57.
A brief selection of questions from the eight questionnaires can be found in the
appendix. In order to obtain previous ideas from the questionnaires in the case of
multiple-choice questions, the cut frequency was set at 10%, which means that
only ideas of options that have a minimum frequency of 30 assertions were taken
into account. The procedure for with the justified option was to put them into
groups according to similarity.
Interview scripts (the interviews were recorded and transcribed) were drawn
up in accordance with the results obtained from the questionnaires and were
applied to a sample of students whose replies were good, average and poor.
CELL REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL 273
Population
The sample consisted of 1200 students who were selected at random and by
strata, covering three years of schooling and two shifts at the college. First year
students (both shifts in all cases) had previously taken a general biology course at
junior high school. Those from the second year had taken another biology course
focused on cell, live origin, evolution and genetics, and, for those in the third year
topics on biology were selected for those students that had chosen a biology as
specialization area and constituted approximately 55% of the total population of
the third scholar year. The college is located in Mexico City and most of the
students are of middle-class background. Each questionnaire was answered by
300 students (100 students per each academic year) and two questionnaires were
assigned to each student.
Data collection
Students’ previous ideas were identified from each questionnaire, taking into
account the option selected and the justifications they gave. There was a great
dispersion of ideas and in order to group them, the cut frequency was set at
10%. Students’ justification of the selected option was analysed. When the choice
was not supported by justification, the latter was taken as the student’s idea. Then,
identified previous ideas were grouped by similarity and the remaining were
formed into one and comprehensive single sentence. Data from interviews were
related to ideas from questionnaires in order to confirm the interpretation that was
made.
Results
In order to show students’ ideas, from the general processes of living things to cell
in all the topics, the results were organized in three main categories: general pro-
cesses, processes in pluricellular organisms, and cell processes. Table 1 shows the
students’ ideas for each topic. Percentages follow each idea, and these percentages
formed by joined similar or complementary ideas is the mean of each percentages.
Several problems concerning comprehension that had originated in previous
ideas were identified. These problems appear across all levels from general to
cellular. The most significant are:
In an environment with an
excess of water, the cell
only takes the water it
needs (10%)
Water in Water cleans, transports Water goes through Membrane select the
animals and separates the organs and nutrients necessary to
compounds (75%) tissues by means cell (10%)
of cell layers
Water is a food (50.3%) (26.3%) Water takes place in cell
respiration (21%)
Water is a dissolvent for Water eliminates
organisms (19%) waste from cell Nucleus regulates and
(26.3%) performs cell functions
(14%)
Humans eliminate
water to regulate
temperature (31%)
Plant Photosynthesis takes The leaves take the The membrane and/or cell
nutrition place during the day nutrients the wall select the necessary
and respiration at plants need (10%) nutrients so that they
night (38.6%) can go inside the cell
Dark phase of photo- (10%)
Photosynthesis is an synthesis takes
exchange of gases place at night and
(55%) during this oxygen
is released (38.6%)
Plants take nutrients
like water, proteins Leaves absorb sun-
and mineral salts light and its energy
from the environ- (14%)
ment (21%)
An organic compound
in one that has life or
is one that comes from
living things (16%)
Photosynthesis is a
process in which the
plant needs sunlight,
water and minerals
from the ground that
takes up through its
roots and result an
exchange of gases
(36%)
Continued
276 F. FLORES ET AL.
Table 1. continued
Levels
Cell shapes Factors that alter cell Cells modify their Plants cells can have
shape can be genetic, shape through the different shapes (51.6%)
environmental and growth and
social (12.3%) development of the Plant cells are all the same
organism of which (25.6%)
they form part
(41%) Animal cells are generally
round (43%)
Cell from the same
organs or different
organisms are
different due to the
size and shape of
the organs (40.3%)
Cell size Cell size can be affected Cells change in size Cell that perform different
by food, water, disease along with the functions have different
and genetic factors growth of a sizes (19.6%)
(49%) multicellular
organism (30%) The size of the cell is like
that of molecules and
The cell size in the atoms (72.3%)
same organs of
different organisms
is different due to
the difference in
size organs (10%)
Analysis
From the results obtained, it is possible to establish the principal students’ views
or representations at two levels. One is of a general order that refers to processes in
organisms (multicellular organisms and their functions) and the other refers to
specific problems in understanding the structural and functional characteristics
of the cell. Some of these results are in agreement with those found in the reviewed
literature. These two descriptive levels are presented below.
Cell conceptions
Concerning the functional similarity of organs and systems within the cell,
results show that there is a second level in the analogy with macroscopic organ-
isms, in which students establish an isomorphism between processes correspond-
ing to organs, systems and the cellular processes, for example, for them the process
of nutrition in the cell is similar to the digestive system where food is ground and
processed. Lazarowitz and Penso (1992) have reported similar results. Another
idea is that ‘animal and plant cell processes are different, therefore differences
between multicellular organisms are applied to cells’, for example, the association
is presented between mitosis and asexual reproduction in plant cells. Another
example is that they conceive plant respiration as anaerobic, a characteristic that
they transfer to the cell.
Environmental factors act on cells as on organisms; ideas like ‘Environmental
factors modify cell size’ and ‘the cell like other living beings needs energy’
probably have their origin in factors like alimentation and disease. The
idea about energy, which is correct in appearance, generates various
conceptual problems. One of them is that the concept of energy is used as
the end and cause of all processes; another is that energy is considered an
entity with substance. For this reason, students believe that substances like
water and various compounds directly provide energy or are transformed in
energy.
Cell structure and spatial characteristics. Students recognize that the cell is the
structural unit in which organisms are formed. However there are several difficul-
ties with their internal structure. ‘Cell organelles have unknown functions’: this
corresponds to assigning the nucleus all functions, the unknown function of cell
membrane or the Golgi apparatus. It emphasizes the fact that the name of the
organelles are known but not their corresponding function. The shape of the cell is
determined by the shape and size of the organs to which it belongs: once again
transfer from macroscopic to microscopic levels is shown. Figure 1 shows two
diagrams that illustrates the students’ representation of the cell and the principal
conceptual problems.
280 F. FLORES ET AL.
Conclusions
The perspective provided by the analysis is one that shows serious problems with
respect to the appearance of numerous previous ideas that show students’ lack
CELL REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL 281
Teaching implications
Usually, programmes of study in this field and biology textbooks – at secondary
and high school level – present basic processes of living things as separated ele-
ments. It is, therefore, difficult to teach a process like respiration that goes from a
pluricellular level up to a cellular one. It is also hard to explain the functioning of
diverse organs and organisms if the cell level is detached from other levels of
organization. Such difficulties, as already mentioned, have severe repercussions
for the understanding of cell themes and biology as a whole.
Confusions between terms and processes like respiration and photosynthesis,
or mitosis and meiosis, might originate in the emphasis given in class and text-
books at lower educational levels. For example, the ‘need for oxygen’ in human
respiration and the production of oxygen by photosynthesis leads to confusion over
the different role played by these terms and processes.
These conclusions signal a possible direction for change in teaching: address
the detected problems from the start – the relationship between multicellular and
cellular levels – and clarify – for an integral view – the net of complex processes
performed at different levels of organization.
282 F. FLORES ET AL.
Suggestions
Relation between multicellular and cellular processes. It is necessary for teachers to
make an effort to teach a general process like respiration or reproduction from
multicellular organisms to cell. It is also helpful if a detailed description of rela-
tionships between processes in the cell and how these processes determine multi-
cellular ones is described. It is recommended that special attention be given to the
‘multicellular–cellular’ scheme where analogies may introduce conflicting inter-
pretations. Certainly, the use of analogies is important and necessary but teachers
need to use them carefully and point out the limits of them and the necessity for
constructing formal representations.
A context in the class. Representing concepts in a field as vast as that of the cell
makes it necessary to consider that, in a teaching situation students, must be
immersed in an atmosphere that does not permit the isolation of concepts and
cell processes. This atmosphere implies that in all actions teachers decide to
carry out, students would have referents like a problem to understand, diverse
additional features as text, experiments, use of history of science, simulators,
etc., that will allow them to make relations, inferences and construct explanations
that make possible the construction of an articulated cell and cell processes
representations.
References
Barak, J., Gorodetsky, M. and Chipman, D. (1997) Understanding of energy in biology and
vitalistic conceptions. International Journal of Science Education, 19, 21–30.
Bartov, H. (1978) Can students be taught to distinguish between teleological and causal
explanations? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 15, 567–572.
Caballer, M. and GimÉnez, I. (1992) Las ideas de los alumnos acerca de la estructura
celular de los seres vivos. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 10, 172–180.
Caballer, M. and GimÉnez, I (1993) Las ideas del alumnado sobre el concepto de célula al
finalizar la educación general básica. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 11, 63–68.
CELL REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL 283
Stavy, R., Eisen, Y. and Yaakobi, D. (1987) How students aged 13–15 understand photo-
synthesis. International Journal of Science Education, 9, 105–115.
Taber, K. S. and Watts, M. (1996) The secret life of the chemical bond: students’ anthro-
pomorphic and animistic references to bonding. International Journal of Science
Education, 18, 557–568
Tamir, P. and Zohar, A. (1991) Anthropomorphism and teleology in reasoning about bio-
logical phenomena. Science Education 75, 57–67.
Wandersee, J. H. (1993). Students’ misconceptions about photosynthesis: a cross-age study.
Proceedings of the International Seminar Misconceptions in Science and Mathematics
(Ithaca, NY: University of Cornell), pp. 898–934
Westbrook, S. and Marek, E. (1992) A Cross-Age Study of Student Understanding of the
Concept of Homeostasis. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 51–61.
Wood-Robinson, C. (1991) Young people’s ideas about plants. Studies in Science Education,
19, 119–135.
Yip, D. Y. (1998) Teachers’ misconceptions of the circulatory system. Journal of Biological
Education, 32, 207–215.
Zamora, S. and Guerra, M. (1993) Misconceptions about cells. Technical Report,
Universum, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.
Appendix
Selection of some questions that form part of the questionnaires:
Water in animals
In animal cells, the passage of substances through the membrane is regulated by:
(1) Different amounts of substances dissolved in water inside and outside the
cell.
(2) Equal amounts of substances dissolved in water inside and outside the
cell.
(3) Intracellular movements that displace the substances through the cell
membrane.
How do you explain this?
Water is necessary in the inside of animal cells to:
(1) Give chemical energy to the cell so that it can perform all its functions.
(2) Dissolve substances and participate in chemical reactions.
(3) Decompose and give hydrogen and oxygen for intracellular chemical
reactions.
(4) Act as an organic compound that the cell needs to feed itself.
Give reasons for your answer.
Water in plants
When a plant is left without water for several days, it shrivels up because:
(1) plant respiration is not favoured.
(2) the plant is not kept swollen.
(3) the plant is not provided with energy.
(4) hormone activity is not regulated.
When a plant is adapted to living in a temperate climate, how can it regulate water
loss on a hot day?
CELL REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL 285
Cell shape
Cells are:
(1) All flat
(2) All three-dimensional
(3) Some flat and other three-dimensional.
Why?
Nutrition in animals
With respect to nutrition, organisms are classified as autotrophs (they synthesize
their own food) and heterotrophs (they take synthesized food). Write number 1 for
autotrophs and 2 for heterotrophs for the following organisms:
Spider__ paramecia___ yeast___ man___ maize___ lactobacillus___ dolphin__
Intestinal worm___ elodea (Anacharis ssp)___ fungus___
Nutrition in plants
What is the process of nutrition in plants like?
In which organelle is photosynthesis carried out? ( )
a) mitochondrion b) chloroplast c) amyloplast d) vacuole.
Reproduction
Tissues continually substitute those cells that are dying or being lost through
natural processes, for example: the life of a red globule (erythrocyte) is approxi-
mately 15 days, the spleen and the red bone marrow constantly form new cells to
replace the dead ones. How does this cell replacement take place?
286 CELL REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL
It is frequent to hear that when a person likes a plant, they ask for a piece to plant.
By means of which process is the new plant formed?
(1) Through asexual reproduction.
(2) Through sexual reproduction.
How do you explain this?
Respiration
When do plants breathe?
a) during the day b) during the night c) always d) never
Explain your answer.
Cell size
Most cells have a size between:
(1) 0.1–0.001 mm
(2) 0.001–0.00001 mm
(3) 0.00001–0.0000001 mm
Do you think bone cells have the same size when you were a baby as they do now
that you are a young person?
a) yes b) no
Why?