The cell concept of 10th graders: curricular expectations and reality

Abstract

The present expectations of the biology curriculum for the 9th grade of Israeli secondary schools include a demand that pupils internalize ‘a general functional idea of the living cell as the basic unit of life’. This paper describes a diagnostic evaluation study designed to ascertain in what measure this expectation is being realized. An opinion survey of relevant members of the establishment; a two‐phase questionnaire (given to 10th graders who had been taught this topic in 9th grade) based on the consensual components of the survey; and in‐depth interviews of a stratified sample with questionnaire‐respondents, provided the base for the evaluation. Four categories of pupils' (lack of) knowledge were identified: common knowledge, wide‐spread lack of knowledge, inadequate alternatives and contradictions, i.e., inconsistent use of knowledge by respondents. An alarming level of non‐internalization of many of the salient aspects of the topic ‘the living cell’ became apparent. This phenomenon was taken to have been caused by the fact that the very concepts which could have made these ‘ideas’ meaningful for pupils at that stage of cognitive development and lacking essential prerequisites for their meaningful learning, had made them actually unteachable. It was suggested that ‘the establishment's’ curricular expectations and/or the teaching approaches should be thoroughly reviewed in the light of these findings portraying the reality.