2020 Volume 60 Issue 3 Pages 603-613
When the course of study was revised in 2017, the “Species Diversity and Biological Evolution” study unit of the lower secondary school science curriculum was shifted from the 8th grade to the 9th grade. Consequently, the students studied the “Law of Heredity and Genes”, and “Organisms and the Environment” units in the same school year. The subjects of biodiversity can be roughly divided into three subtopics: (1) genetic diversity, (2) species diversity, and (3) ecosystem diversity. Ecosystem diversity is studied as it exists in the present era. Biological evolution underlies existing species diversity among living things that have descended from common ancestors. In this research, we have developed a learning plan that integrates the spatial concept of “ecosystem diversity,” with the temporal concept of “evolution”. The purpose of this study was to help lower secondary school students understand ecosystem diversity, examine to what extent they grasp scientific evolutionary concepts, and assess to what extent the students eradicate misconceptions during the learning process. Based on the quantitative analysis of student performance task results, the qualitative analysis of student performance, and their answers to a questionnaire, it was clear that understanding of “ecosystem diversity” was prompted to a certain extent, but preexisting misconceptions were persistently retained. To be more precise, we found it difficult to correct misconceptions such as those held by students regarding the concept “survival of the fittest”.
