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The Contribution of Conceptual Change Texts Accompanied by Concept Mapping to Eleventh-Grade Students Understanding of Cellular Respiration Concepts

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Abstract

The present study conducted to investigate the contribution of conceptual change texts, accompanied by concept mapping instruction to eleventh-grade students’ understanding of cellular respiration concepts, and their retention of this understanding. Cellular respiration concepts test was developed as a result of examination of related literature and interviews with teachers regarding their observations of students’ difficulties. The test was administrated as pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test to a total of 70 eleventh-grade students in two classes of the same high school in an urban area, taught by the same teacher. The experimental group was a class of 34 students who received conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction. A class of 36 students comprised the control group who received traditional instruction. Besides treatment, previous understanding and logical thinking ability were other independent variables involved in this study. The results showed that logical thinking, treatment, previous understanding of cellular respiration concepts each made a statistically significant contribution to the variation in students’ understanding of cellular respiration concepts. The result also showed that conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction was significantly better than traditional instruction in retention of this understanding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Curricula and Instructions, Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan

    Salem A. Al khawaldeh & Ali M. Al Olaimat

Authors
  1. Salem A. Al khawaldeh
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  2. Ali M. Al Olaimat
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Salem A. Al khawaldeh.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Student misconception concerning cellular respiration

  1. 1.

    Plants respire at night.

  2. 2.

    Plant does not respire.

  3. 3.

    O2 is used directly during glucose reduction reactions.

  4. 4.

    O2 is used during anaerobic respiration reactions.

  5. 5.

    All living things use O2 during respiration reactions.

  6. 6.

    Whereas animals produce CO2, plants produce O2 at the end of respiration.

  7. 7.

    During anaerobic respiration reactions CO2 is used instead of O2.

  8. 8.

    Inhaling oxygen and exhaling CO2 is called respiration.

  9. 9.

    CO2 is released during both aerobic and anaerobic respiration reactions as an end product.

  10. 10.

    CO2 is released during both lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation reactions as an end product.

  11. 11.

    CO2 is used during glycolysis to form ATP.

  12. 12.

    Energy produced in one cell is used in other cellular activities.

  13. 13.

    Energy is produced at the end of photosynthesis reactions.

  14. 14.

    Heat produced during respiration is used in cellular activities.

  15. 15.

    Glucose is used in all respiration reactions.

  16. 16.

    Glucose is produced as a result of respiration reaction.

  17. 17.

    Water is produced as a result of fermentation reactions.

  18. 18.

    Yeast makes photosynthesis under light.

  19. 19.

    Only yeast makes anaerobic respiration reactions.

  20. 20.

    Yeast releases O2 in fermentation process.

  21. 21.

    Glycolysis in fermentation reaction requires more O2 than glycolysis in aerobic respiration reactions.

  22. 22.

    Only animals can carry on glycolysis

  23. 23.

    In respiration reactions, the same amount of ATP is produced for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.

  24. 24.

    All of the energy produced during respiration is stored.

  25. 25.

    Only aerobic respiration occurs in muscle cells.

Appendix 2

Examples of the Cellular respiration Concepts Test

  1. 2.

    Which of the following products are common end products of aerobic respiration reactions and anaerobic fermentation?

    1. a.

      CO2 is released during both aerobic and anaerobic respiration reactions.

    2. b.

      ATP is common end products of both aerobic respiration and anaerobic fermentation.

    3. c.

      CO2 is released during both lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation reactions.

    4. d.

      Water is produced as a result of fermentation reactions

  2. 4.

    Which of the following statements about reactants in respiration reaction is correct?

    1. a.

      Some of the respiration reactions do not require O2.

    2. b.

      All living thing utilize O2 during respiration reactions.

    3. c.

      O2 is used directly during glucose reduction reactions.

    4. d.

      O2 is used during anaerobic respiration reactions.

  3. 6.

    Which of the following is true about respiration in plants?

    1. a.

      plants do not respire.

    2. b.

      plants respire at night.

    3. c.

      plants respire all the time.

    4. d.

      Whereas animals produce CO2, plants produce O2 at the end of respiration.

  4. 8.

    One of the following statements is correct about glycolysis

    1. a.

      Net gain of only 2 ATP.

    2. b.

      Glycolysis in fermentation reaction requires more O2 than glycolysis in aerobic respiration.

    3. c.

      Carbon dioxide is used during glycolysis to form ATP.

    4. d.

      Only animals can carry on glycolysis.

  5. 9.

    Glucose is

    1. a.

      Used in all respiration reactions.

    2. b.

      Produced as a result of respiration reaction.

    3. c.

      The only substrate used in the aerobic respiration.

    4. d.

      Oxidized to CO2 and O2 is reduced to H2O in cellular respiration.

  6. 10.

    Which of the following explanation is true for energy produced at the end of respiration reactions?

    1. a.

      Energy produced in one cell can be utilized for the activities of other cells.

    2. b.

      Heat released during the respiration is used in cellular activities.

    3. c.

      Same amount of ATP is produced in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms at the end of aerobic respiration reactions.

    4. d.

      During glycolysis reaction 2ATP is produced in both aerobic and anaerobic respiration reactions.

  7. 12.

    Yeast

    1. a.

      Makes photosynthesis under light.

    2. b.

      Makes alcoholic fermentation reactions.

    3. c.

      Only makes anaerobic respiration reactions.

    4. d.

      Releases O2 in the fermentation process.

  8. 13.

    Which of these is a true statement?

    1. a.

      Inhaling oxygen and exhaling CO2 is called respiration.

    2. b.

      All of the energy produced during respiration is stored.

    3. c.

      Energy is produced at the end of photosynthesis reactions.

    4. d.

      Substrate-level takes place in the glycolysis and the Krebs cycle.

Appendix 3

An excerpt of conceptual change text concerning aerobic respiration

What kinds of reactants are used as an energy source during aerobic respiration reactions?

Many of us may have the misconception that glucose is the only one energy source during respiration reactions. But free glucose molecules are not common in the diets of humans and other animals. We obtain most of our calories in the form of fats, proteins, sucrose and other disaccharides, and starch, a polysaccharide. All these food molecules can be used by cellular respiration to make ATP (Fig. 2). This misconception may arise due to extensive demonstration of glucose as a reactant in the textbooks rather than other energy source.

Fig. 2
figure 2

The catabolism of various food molecules

Full size image

During respiration reactions carbohydrate are primary source of energy. When the organism has sufficient carbohydrate it uses first carbohydrates in the cellular respiration reactions to supply its energy need. Glycolysis can accept a wide range of carbohydrates for catabolism. In the digestive tract, starch is hydrolyzed to glucose, which can then break down in the cells by glycolysis and Krebs cycle. Similarly, glycogen, the polysaccharides that humans and many other animals store in their liver and muscle cells, can be hydrolyzed to glucose between meals as fuel for respiration. The digestion of disaccharides, including sucrose, provides glucose and other monosaccharides as fuel for respiration.

Proteins can be also used for fuel, but first they must be digested to their constituent amino acids. Many of the amino acids, of course, are used by the organism to build proteins. Amino acids present in excess are converted by enzymes to intermediates of glycolysis and the Krebs cycle. Before amino acids can feed into glycolysis or the Krebs cycle, their amino groups must be removed, a process called deamination. The nitrogenous refuse is excreted from the animal in the form of ammonia, urea or other waste products.

Catabolism can also harvest energy stored in fats obtained either from food or from storage cells in the body. After fats are digested, the glycerol is converted to glyceraldehydes phosphate, an intermediate of glycolysis. Most of the energy of fat is stored in the fatty acids. A metabolic sequence called beta oxidation breaks the fatty acids down to two-carbon fragments, which enter the Krebs cycle as acetyl CoA. Fats make excellent fuel. A gram of fat oxidized by respiration produces more than twice as much ATP as a gram of carbohydrate. Unfortunately, this also means that a dieter must be patient while using fat stored in the body, because so many calories are stockpiled in each gram of fat.

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Al khawaldeh, S.A., Al Olaimat, A.M. The Contribution of Conceptual Change Texts Accompanied by Concept Mapping to Eleventh-Grade Students Understanding of Cellular Respiration Concepts. J Sci Educ Technol 19, 115–125 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-009-9185-z

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