Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-15-2020

Identifier

DOI: 10.20343/teachlearninqu.8.1.9

Abstract

Mental health researchers emphasize the importance of practitioner understanding of biology-environment interplay. Accordingly, our goal of the study described in this article was to understand students’ preconceptions and misconceptions about biological and environmental influences on development through investigating their conceptions of epigenetics. Using a short-term longitudinal design, we explored preservice helping professionals’ conceptions and misconceptions pertaining to epigenetics within the framework of a graduate level human development course. Baseline knowledge about epigenetics was low. Students developed multiple misconceptions about epigenetics and how the phenomenon relates to biological and environmental influences on human development. Students reported feeling highly efficacious for detecting and resolving misconceptions related to biology-environment interactions but varied in their perceptions of interest for learning about the content. Findings support the use of open-ended questions to detect misconceptions about epigenetics and are discussed in light of how to teach students about this phenomenon. Overall, this research speaks to the importance of understanding the misconceptions students believe and instructional strategies that may assist in correcting them.

Journal Title

Teaching & Learning Inquiry

Volume

8

Issue

1

First Page

122

Last Page

137

Keywords

epigenetics, misconceptions, motivation, human development, educational psychology

Comments

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons –Attribution License 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed.

Publisher's Link: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/57604

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