The Effectiveness of an Online Curriculum on High School Students' Understanding of Biological Evolution

An online curriculum about biological evolution was designed to promote increased student content knowledge and evidentiary reasoning. A feasibility study was conducted with 77 rural high school biology students who learned with the online biological evolution unit. Data sources included the Biologi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of science education and technology 2015-12, Vol.24 (6), p.803-817
Main Authors: Marsteller, Robert B., Bodzin, Alec M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude Measures
Biological evolution
Biology
Computer Mediated Communication
Curricula
Education
Educational Technology
Evolution
Feasibility studies
Group Discussion
High School Students
Internet
Online Courses
Pretests Posttests
Program Effectiveness
Reasoning
Rural Schools
Scaffolding
Scaffolding (Teaching Technique)
Science Education
Science Instruction
Sciences education
Student Attitudes
Students
Surveys
Task complexity
Thinking Skills
Web Based Instruction
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Summary:An online curriculum about biological evolution was designed to promote increased student content knowledge and evidentiary reasoning. A feasibility study was conducted with 77 rural high school biology students who learned with the online biological evolution unit. Data sources included the Biological Evolution Assessment Measure (BEAM), an analysis of discussion forum posts, and a post-implementation perceptions and attitudes questionnaire. BEAM posttest scores were significantly higher than the pretest scores. However, the findings revealed that the students required additional support to develop evidentiary reasoning. Many students perceived that the Web-based curriculum would have been enhanced by increased immediate interaction and feedback. Students required greater scaffolding to support complex, processoriented tasks. Implications for designing Web-based science instruction with curriculum materials to support students' acquisition of content knowledge and science process skills in a Web-based setting are discussed.
ISSN:1059-0145
1573-1839
DOI:10.1007/s10956-015-9565-5