Description
The study identified pre-service teachers’ conceptsabout the identification of organisms as insects. The students harbored a number of misconceptionsabout the identification of organisms as insects andheld non-scientific conceptions about whatconstitutes the class Insecta. Many of them did nothave an understanding of classification concepts, andthey focused on visual cues rather than scientificcriteria they had memorized in school. The resultssuggest that science educators must consider whatmisconceptions may be held about the classificationof organisms and use pedagogical techniques tochallenge their students’ ideas. Dr. Linda Schaffer is an Assistant Professor of Science TeacherEducation at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NewMexico. She taught science in Puerto Rico and in thecontinental United States for 26 years. Her science expertise isin the area of invertebrate zoology, particularly, medicalentomology.
