Acquisition of Complex Systemic Thinking: Mental Models of Evolution

We investigated the impact of introducing college students to complex adaptive systems on their subsequent mental models of evolution compared to those of students taught in the same manner but with no reference to complex systems. The students' mental models (derived from similarity ratings of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational research and evaluation 2004-12, Vol.10 (4-6), p.499-521
Main Authors: d'Apollonia, Sylvia T., Charles, Elizabeth S., Boyd, Gary M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognitive Structures
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Summary:We investigated the impact of introducing college students to complex adaptive systems on their subsequent mental models of evolution compared to those of students taught in the same manner but with no reference to complex systems. The students' mental models (derived from similarity ratings of 12 evolutionary terms using the pathfinder algorithm) were significantly similar to their teachers' mental models and were correlated to their performance on an essay on evolution. Introducing students to complex systems facilitated their understanding of the mechanism of inheritance, the mechanism of evolution, and the role of chance in evolution.
ISSN:1380-3611
1744-4187
DOI:10.1080/13803610512331383539