TY - JOUR
T1 - Conceptual Understanding of Homeostasis
AU - Zion, M.
AU - Klein, Sara
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Analyzing students' perceptions is essential to the development of studying scientific concepts.
In particular, this research investigates students' conceptual understanding of a fundamental
biological principle: homeostasis. Homeostasis is difficult to understand as it is both tangible and
abstract. The correct perception of homeostasis is necessary to obtain a comprehensive
understanding and an in-depth diagnosis of the health of the human body in a variety of
physiological conditions such as aging and disease. In order to help students achieve a
conceptual understanding of homeostasis, we defined the following eight characteristics: process
dynamics, physiological balance, control and regulation, feedback mechanism, environments,
dependency between events within a system or a process, multisystems, and levels of
organization. The primary goal of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of
homeostasis, after studying these characteristics. For this purpose, 93 biology majors in 12th
grade studied the characteristics of homeostasis. An analysis of the students' responses shows
their correct scientific perceptions of the characteristics of homeostasis, but also reveals a great
variety of erroneous perceptions. Our results suggest that the division of a scientific principle
into its component characteristics may help the teachers in identifying their students' thinking
and conceptual understanding of homeostasis.
AB - Analyzing students' perceptions is essential to the development of studying scientific concepts.
In particular, this research investigates students' conceptual understanding of a fundamental
biological principle: homeostasis. Homeostasis is difficult to understand as it is both tangible and
abstract. The correct perception of homeostasis is necessary to obtain a comprehensive
understanding and an in-depth diagnosis of the health of the human body in a variety of
physiological conditions such as aging and disease. In order to help students achieve a
conceptual understanding of homeostasis, we defined the following eight characteristics: process
dynamics, physiological balance, control and regulation, feedback mechanism, environments,
dependency between events within a system or a process, multisystems, and levels of
organization. The primary goal of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of
homeostasis, after studying these characteristics. For this purpose, 93 biology majors in 12th
grade studied the characteristics of homeostasis. An analysis of the students' responses shows
their correct scientific perceptions of the characteristics of homeostasis, but also reveals a great
variety of erroneous perceptions. Our results suggest that the division of a scientific principle
into its component characteristics may help the teachers in identifying their students' thinking
and conceptual understanding of homeostasis.
UR - https://scholar.google.co.il/scholar?q=A+conceptual+understanding+of+%27homeostasis%27+by+studying+its+characteristics%2C+Michal+Zion&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
U2 - 10.20876/ijobed.12279
DO - 10.20876/ijobed.12279
M3 - Article
VL - 4
JO - International Journal Of Biology Education
JF - International Journal Of Biology Education
IS - 1
ER -
