The Influence of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Pck) for Teaching Macroevolution on Student Outcomes in a General Education Biology Course
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THE INFLUENCE OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE (PCK) FOR TEACHING MACROEVOLUTION ON STUDENT OUTCOMES IN A GENERAL EDUCATION BIOLOGY COURSE A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by EMILY MARIE WALTER Dr. Patricia J. Friedrichsen, Dissertation Supervisor MAY 2013 The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, Have examined the dissertation entitled THE INFLUENCE OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE (PCK) FOR TEACHING MACROEVOLUTION ON STUDENT OUTCOMES IN A GENERAL EDUCATION BIOLOGY COURSE Presented by EMILY MARIE WALTER A candidate for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF LEARNING, TEACHING AND CURRICULUM - EMPHASIS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION And hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. _______________________________________________________________ DR. PATRICIA J. FRIEDRICHSEN, CHAIR _______________________________________________________________ DR. LLOYD BARROW _______________________________________________________________ DR. DEBORAH HANUSCIN _______________________________________________________________ DR. DAVID BERGIN _______________________________________________________________ DR. GERALD SUMMERS DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my daughters Lily and Charlotte and to my husband Clint. Your love, patience, humor, and bear hugs have been wonderful support for me throughout my doctorate program. I am grateful to share this achievement with you. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is a result of five years of work in the MU Science Education Center. Throughout that time, many people have challenged and supported my thinking. I take the following pages to acknowledge these individuals. Pat Friedrichsen, my advisor. Thank you for believing in me. You never once told me I might not graduate on time. This meant a lot to me, especially in moments of frustration and exhaustion. Thank you for your support, patience, and excellent feedback throughout this process. Thank you also for helping me look beyond the details and see the big picture. I could not have done this without you. Lloyd Barrow, thank you for support. I appreciate that you are so in tune to the needs of graduate students. Thank you for your company at lunch and for your keen sense for asking the right question at the right time. Debi Hanuscin, thank you for your support and insightful questions. It has been great working with you as a colleague. Your industrious yet gracious nature is something to strive for. Dave Bergin, thank you for meeting with me to discuss quantitative patterns in the data prior to writing Chapter Four. Your insight helped me to have confidence in my results. Gerry Summers, thank you for your insight and keen eye for detail. Thank you for your continued support of graduate students in Science Education to teach in the biological sciences. We greatly appreciate the experience. ii Sandi Abell, thank you for the shaping the collaborative and hard working atmosphere at Mizzou. Writing this dissertation was often influenced by what “Sandi would say”. I take great pride in holding myself to the “Sandi standard” and am grateful for the influence of your tough love. Thank you for making all of us go to NARST. Thank you for making us go to colloquium. Thank you for calling our blunders. Thank you for asking us how we were doing both professionally and personally. I hope I will find the same collaborative, friendly, and hard working atmosphere at my future institution. However, nothing will ever be quite the same as Mizzou. To my graduate student colleagues: Parker Stuart, thank you for always having a listening ear. I have consistently enjoyed our friendship and will miss seeing you on a regular basis. Will Romine, thank you for your friendship and scholarly advice. You are a quantitative genius and I hope you can apply that knowledge to reach your career goals. Aaron Sickel and Steve Witzig, thank you for your friendship and insightful questions. I learned so much from the both of you. You are such awesome amalgams of humor and intelligence. I hope that we can work together in the future. To my faculty participant, Dr. Wallace. The implications of this study would be unknown without your willingness to participate in the study. I hope the findings of the study will be informative in your future teaching. A quick note on the choice of the name “Wallace” as your pseudonym. As you know, your name was purposefully selected to recognize the scholarly contributions of the often forgotten contemporary of Darwin and to recognize my college evolution instructor who happened to share the same surname. iii To Greg and Cindy Mollman, my parents. Thank you for always believing in me and being my biggest fans. Thank you for your financial support throughout school and for providing me the loving home needed for a growing mind. To Lily Walter, my incredible daughter. It’s hard to believe you are almost 6 years old already. I love that you can read chapter books, do multiplication with Daddy’s help, and glide so well on your scooter. You are awesome! Thank you for never complaining about me leaving to write my dissertation at 6 pm every night. I could have stayed and put you in bed at 8 pm, and you made a major sacrifice to let me go to campus and work instead. Thank you. I love you so much! You are a very intelligent girl. Never forget that intelligence is nothing without hard work. Put your smarts to work, my love, and you can do anything! To Charlotte Walter, my sweet baby girl. I cannot believe you are already 14 months old. I love how you get excited when you see the kitty and how you love to sing along to songs. Thank you for making 6 am easier by doing a little dance when you see me. Your snuggles, giggles, and overall cuteness have made being really tired from this dissertation a lot easier. Thank you. I love you so much! And finally, to my husband, Clint Walter. I save the best for last. You are my best friend, my cheerleader, and my soul mate. When we first starting dating in high school, I had pretty low self esteem. Thank you for helping me realize that I can be myself - nerdy, weird, anxious, grumpy, whatever - and you’ll still love me. I love you more than anything, Kunbear. I look forward to all of our future adventures together. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................xv 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 Rationale and Purpose for this Study ...................................................................................1 Evolution and Non-Science Majors .....................................................................................2 Summary of Objectives ........................................................................................................7 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................7 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................12 Significance ........................................................................................................................15 Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................................17 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................................19 Review of Research on Evolution Education ....................................................................19 Studies on Students’ Knowledge of Evolution Content ....................................................25 Student understandings about natural selection .....................................................26 Instruments to measure student understanding of natural selection ......................27 Non-science majors’ knowledge of natural selection ............................................29 Biology majors’ knowledge of natural selection....................................................30 Student knowledge of macroevolution ..................................................................32 Evolution Acceptance Studies ................................................................................40 Nature of science and acceptance .........................................................................41 v Research on Faculty PCK ..................................................................................................44 Goals for Teaching Science / Orientations ............................................................45 Knowledge of Curriculum ....................................................................................48 Knowledge of Learners / Context .........................................................................49