Using conceptual change as a theoretical lens, the purpose of this study is to describe the structure of a learner's conceptual ecology within a specific content area (biological evolution) and to illustrate how this ecology influences the process of conceptual change. Data were gathered using participant observations in a high school Biology II classroom as well as a series of 17 open‐ended and structured interviews with each of four research participants. The interviews were designed to illustrate the participants' approaches to biology as well as to describe their changing conceptual frameworks for evolutionary theory. Interview techniques used include: concept mapping, drawing interviews, discussion of pre‐ and posttests, and sorting tasks. A learner's conceptual ecology for evolution was found to include prior conceptions related to evolutionary theory (both scientific and alternative), scientific and religious orientations, view of the biological world, and acceptance of evolutionary theory. However, the data demonstrate that the actions of these aspects of the conceptual ecology can vary among individuals and no single controlling mechanism was isolated. Most importantly, the data demonstrate that conceptual change has significant affective cornponents as evidence is evaluated by learners and this evaluation is often based on extralogical criteria. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of students' conceptual restructuring within the theoretical framework of biologic evolution. The study draws on conceptual change theory in an effort to define the limits of the theory and suggest other models of restructuring. Through a series of 17 structured and open-ended interviews with each of 4 participants, the students' changing conceptions about facets of evolutionary theory were documented throughout the school year. Interview questions were developed from the wealth of alternative conceptions documented in the literature, and many interview techniques were employed to assure the mode validity of all research findings. The conceptual change documented demonstrates that many conceptions in this content area are closely interwoven, so that a change in one conception requires a change in many others. Four patterns of conceptual change were seen: (a) cascade, (b) wholesale, (c) incremental, and (d) dual constructions. Of these 4, only 2 conform to the changes described by conceptual change theory. The other two patterns suggest that different models of conceptual restructuring are required for further science education research.

This article is a report of elementary school teachers' beliefs about and uses of text material in science. Survey results from 522 K‐8 teachers from 299 schools in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were analyzed along three dimensions: teacher attitudes toward teaching of reading in science; teacher beliefs and understanding about models of reading, factors influencing science reading and reading skills; and teacher use of various teaching strategies. Results suggest that teachers do not see reading science as different from any other narrative material. And though most agreed to the importance of having students do activities to support and enhance the use of text material, responses suggest that covering topics is still a concern for most elementary teachers.

The F-Sort of Biology Concepts was used to assess understanding of the relationships among 37 biology concepts by five groups: Preservice secondary science teachers, in-service biology teachers with 1-3 years of teaching experience, in-service biology teachers with 5 or more years of experience, scientists in any biological science field, and college seniors majoring in biology. Data collected from the F-sort were analyzed using latent partition analysis and alpha factor analysis with additional interpretation from multidimensional scaling. The subjects were asked to think aloud as they performed the F-sort and each session was audiotaped for later analysis. These analyses indicated that the biology major and experienced secondary science teachers were separated from the scientists by a dimension based on a deep-versus-surface structure understanding of the concepts. A second axis shows that scientists are separated from other groups by a fluid-versus-fixed cognitive structure dimension. That is, both experienced teachers and scientists were found to have well-constructed and ordered cognitive structures, but scientists were much more likely to see an item having a place in two or more categories, whereas experienced teachers tended to focus on only one aspect of an item, and therefore understanding that it rightfully belonged in only one category. It appears that teachers restructure their science knowledge as they become more experienced. There is an apparent transition from poorly organized to highly organized cognitive structures for biology concepts when comparing preservice, novice, and experienced teachers, respectively. The transition does not seem to be one achieving a deeper understanding of the biology concepts or to a greater degree of integration of the concepts, but rather a transition from a fairly large, loosely organized pool of biology concepts to one which is highly structured but limited to the expectations of the established curriculum. The results have implications for the well-known conjecture that teaching helps one better understand the content being taught.

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