Concept Inventory Development Reveals Common Student Misconceptions about Microbiology Page: 4
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BRIGGS, HUGHES et al.: MICROBIOLOGY MISCONCEPTIONS
TABLE 2.
Evolution misconceptions and student examples.Misconception
T/F: "A bacterium can acquire resistance to an antibiotic to which it has not been exposed."
Genetic change
Change is intentional and in response
to external conditions"A bacterium must be first exposed to the antibiotic in order to be
able to mutate and become resistant to the antibiotic."T/F: "If you cultured two bacteria together, where one is resistant to penicillin, it is possible for the other to acquire the resistance."
Genetic change/
gene transfer
Genetic change/
gene transferImmunity
Change only occurs through mutation,
not gene transfer
Change/transfer occurs through hybridization/
crossbreeding in bacteria
Conflating immunity with drug resistance"It could be possible, but it wouldn't be from the first bacteria,
it would have to be through mutation."
"If the bacteria could reproduce together
then this might happen"
"A bacterium cannot acquire resistance to an antibiotic to which
is has not been exposed because we have two types of immunity
innate and acquired.An acquired immunity allows immunity to
things that we have already been exposed to and if it has not
been exposed then we do not have an immunity to it. So therefore
it cannot acquire resistance because the acquired immunity
has never been exposed to that certain antibiotic."T/F: "Genome sequencing of a microbial species might demonstrate genes originating from a variety of other species."
Transfer is only vertical
(horizontal not a major factor)"Everything came from one common ancestor,
and then branched off into several subspecies."TIF: "Evidence of a common ancestor for all life on earth is revealed by the presence of the same enzymatic pathways in organisms as
diverse as humans and microorganisms."Common ancestry Genetics is the only type of evidence of common
ancestry (not proteins or pathways, don't see link)"Evidence for a common ancestor is revealed by
the DNA sequencing of organisms."T/F = true/false.
Metabolism (Questions 9, 11, 12, 13, 20), Genetics (Ques-
tions 4, 14, 15, 16, 17), and Systems/Impact (Questions
18, 20, 21). Note that four questions covered information
related to fundamental statements found in two core
concept areas (Questions 4, 9, 14, 20).
RESULTS
Most difficult core concepts
In reviewing the T/F responses to the questions, it was
found that questions 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, and 15 all had fewer than
50% correct answers chosen from all collected responses
(Fig. 2). Three of these six questions were in the cell struc-
ture/function category only, one was in cell structure/
function and metabolism, one was in only metabolism and
one in genetics. In addition, and independent of whether or
not students chose the correct T/F answer, 18 out of the 20
questions on the T/F instrument had fewer than 50% correct
explanations for their answers. Questions 15 (genetics) and
20 (metabolism and systems/impact) were the only questions
with correct explanation percentages above 50%. So, while
students could often identify whether a statement was true,
they were almost completely unable to describe why in amanner that is consistent with the scientific explanation.
This phenomenon is especially apparent with the questions
addressing the evolution core concept (questions I, 2, 3, and
14). Questions 5, 8, and 15 were the only questions that had
similar rates of correct answers and correct explanations.
Students had a great deal of difficulty providing clear
explanations for their answers on several questions, as seen
in the number of "nonsense" coded answers. The highest
was question 21 (systems/impact) with 68% of the answers
coded as nonsense, followed by question 10 (cell structure/
function) at 40% and question 9 (cell structure/function and
metabolism) at 32%. Three other questions had between
20 and 25% nonsense answers: questions 4 (genetics), II
(metabolism), and 17 (genetics).
Guessing does not appear to be a major factor in the
answer choice for most of the questions. On only one ques-
tion, question 16 (genetics), did a relatively large percentage
(29%) of coded responses indicate that the respondent was
guessing. The next highest were question 13 (metabolism),
at 19%, and question 18 (systems/impact), at 18%, while
question 6 (cell structure/function) had 16% guessing. Three
questions, 3 (evolution), II (metabolism), and 17 (genetics)
were between 10 and 12%. All other questions had fewer
than 10% of the answers coded as guessing.Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Theme
Student Example
Gene transfer
4
Volume 1 8, Number 3
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Briggs, Amy G.; Hughes, Lee E.; Brennan, R. E.; Buchner, John; Horak, Rachel E. A.; Katz-Amburn, D. Sue et al. Concept Inventory Development Reveals Common Student Misconceptions about Microbiology, article, October 30, 2017; Washington, DC. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1459145/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Science.