Professional Competence of Student Teachers to Implement Species Identification in Schools – A Case Study from Germany
Abstract
This study investigates how well prepared student teachers are to implement species identification in school. Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire and a PowerPoint presentation in which local plant and animal species were presented. Participants (n = 357) correctly identified, on average, 23% of the plants and 44% of the animals. They identified plants mainly by flower characteristics and leaves, and animals mainly by shape and colour. Family and school were key sources of participants' knowledge of species. The self-estimated competence of participants to identify species was positively correlated with their taxonomic knowledge and the amount of time they had spent on species identification during their own schooldays. The number of correctly identified plant and animal species increased with interest in identifying species and participation in species identification courses. Participants considered learner-centred education and experience-based learning, and the use of living organisms to be most important when identifying species in school.
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References
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Lückmann, K., & Menzel, S. (2014). Herbs versus trees: influences on teenagers’ knowledge of plant species. Journal of Biological Education, 48(2), 80–90.
McKendrick, J. H., Bradford, M. G., & Fielder, A. V. (2000). Time for a party! Making sense of the commercialisation of leisure space for children. In S. L. Holloway & G. Valentine (Eds.), Children’s geographies: playing, living, learning (pp. 100–116). London, UK: Routledge.
Menzel, S., & Bögeholz, S. (2009). The loss of biodiversity as a challenge for sustainable development: how do pupils in Chile and Germany perceive resource dilemmas? Research in Science Education, 39(4), 429–447.
Palmberg, I., Berg, I., Jeronen, E., Kärkkäinen, S., Norrgård-Sillanpää, P., ..., & Yli-Panula, E. (2015). Nordic–Baltic student teachers’ identification of and interest in plant and animal species: the importance of species identification and biodiversity for sustainable development. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 26(6), 549–571.
Patrick, P., & Tunnicliffe, S. (2011). What plants and animals do early childhood and primary students name? Where do they see them? Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(5), 630–642.
Patrick, P., Byrne, J., Tunnicliffe, S. D., Asunta, T., Carvalho, G., Havu-Nuutinen, S., …, & Tracana, R. B. (2013). Students (ages 6, 10, 15 years) in six countries knowledge of animals. Nordic Studies in Science Education, 9(1), 18–32.
Pfeiffer, V. D., Scheiter, K., Kühl, T., & Gemballa, S. (2011). Learning how to identify species in a situated learning scenario: using dynamic-static visualizations to prepare students for their visit to the aquarium. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 7(2), 135–147.
Pilgrim, S. E., Cullen, L. C., Smith, D. J., & Pretty, J. (2008). Ecological knowledge is lost in wealthier communities and countries. Environmental Science & Technology, 42(4), 1004–1009.
Pollock, N. B., Howe, N., Irizarry, I., Lorusso, N., Kruger, A., …, & Struwe, L. (2015). Personal BioBlitz: a new way to encourage biodiversity discovery and knowledge in K–99 education and outreach. BioScience, 65(12), 1154–1164.
Prezza, M., Alparone, F. R., Cristallo, C., & Luigi, S. (2005). Parental perception of social risk and of positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy for children: the development of two instruments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25(4), 437–453.
Randler, C., & Bogner, F. (2002). Comparing methods of instruction using bird species identification skills as indicators. Journal of Biological Education, 36(4), 181–188.
Randler, C. (2008). Teaching species identification - a prerequisite for learning biodiversity and understanding ecology. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 4(3), 223–231.
Scherf, G. (1988). Kenntnis häufiger Pflanzen des Straßenrandes und Vorstellungen über Pflanzen bei 9-12jährigen Schülern und bei jungen Erwachsenen (Lehramtstudenten und Schülern einer Fachakademie für Sozialpädagogik) [Knowledge of common roadside plants and ideas about plants of 9-12 year old students and young adults (students of a teachers’ training college and students of an academy of social work)]. Sachunterricht und Mathematik in der Primarstufe, 16(9), 196–204.
Scott, G. W., Goulder, R., Wheeler, P., Scott, L. J., Tobin, M. L., & Marsham, S. (2012). The value of fieldwork in life and environmental sciences in the context of higher education: a case study in learning about biodiversity. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 21(1), 11–21.
Stagg, B. C., & Donkin, M. (2013). Teaching botanical identification to adults: experiences of the UK participatory science project ’Open Air Laboratories’. Journal of Biological Education, 47(2), 104–110.
Swiss Academy of Sciences (2006). L’avenir de la systématique en Suisse. La systématique: une discipline biologique fondamentale [The future of systematics in Switzerland. Systematics – a fundamental discipline]. Swiss Academy of Sciences, Berne. Retrieved 25. 1. 2016 from http://www.scnat.ch/downloads/Systematik_f_leicht.pdf.
Taraban, R., McKenney, C., Peffley, E., & Applegarth, A. (2004). Live specimens more effective than World Wide Web for learning plant material. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 33, 106–110.
Tunnicliffe, S. D., & Reiss, M. J. (1999). Building a model of the environment: how do children see animals? Journal of Biological Education, 33(3), 142–148.
Tunnicliffe, S. D., & Reiss, M. J. (2000). Building a model of the environment: how do children see plants? Journal of Biological Education, 34(4), 172–177.
UNESCO (2005). UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014: the DESD at a glance. Paris, France: UNESCO.
Valentine, G., & McKendrick, J. (1997). Children’s outdoor play: exploring parental concern about children’s safety and the changing of nature of childhood. Geoforum, 28(2), 219–235.
Van Weelie, D., & Wals, A. (2002). Making biodiversity meaningful through environmental education. International Journal of Science Teaching, 24(11), 1143–1156.
Wandersee, J. H. (1986). Plants or animals - which do junior high school students prefer to study? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 23(5), 415–426.
Wandersee, J. H., & Schussler, E. E. (1999). Preventing plant blindness. The American Biology Teacher, 61(2), 84–86.
Wandersee, J. H., & Schussler, E. E. (2001). Toward a theory of plant blindness. Plant Science Bulletin, 47(1), 2-9.
Weilbacher, M. (1993). The renaissance of the naturalist. The Journal of Environmental Education, 25(1), 4–7.
Wyner, Y., & Berkov, A. (2012). The impact of an extended outdoor residential workshop on urban students’ learning and appreciation of biodiversity. Cities and the Environment, 5(1), 1–15.
Bandura, A., & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(3), 586–598.
Barker, S., Slingsby, D., & Tilling, S. (2002). Teaching biology outside the classroom. Is it heading for extinction? Field Studies Council Occasional Publication 72. Shrewsbury, UK: FSC.
Bebbington, A. (2005). The ability of A-level students to name plants. Journal of Biological Education, 39(2), 63–67.
Bilton, D. T. (2014). What’s in a name? What have taxonomy and systematics ever done for us? Journal of Biological Education, 48(3), 116–118.
Brewer, C. (2002). Conservation education partnerships in schoolyard laboratories: a call back to action. Conservation Biology, 16(3), 577–579.
Crawley, M. J. (2005). Statistics. An introduction using R. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Eberbach, C., & Crowley, K. (2009). From everyday to scientific observation: how children learn to observe the biologist’s world. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 39–68.
Eschenhagen, D. (1982). Untersuchungen zu Tierkenntnissen von Schülern [Studies on taxonomic knowledge of students]. Unterricht Biologie, 68(6), 41–44.
Flannery, M. C. (1991). Considering plants. The American Biology Teacher, 53(5), 306–309.
Gayford, C. (2000). Biodiversity education: a teacher’s perspective. Environmental Education Research, 6(4), 347–361.
Hershey, D. R. (1996). A historical perspective on problems in botany teaching. The American Biology Teacher, 58(6), 340–347.
Hesse, M. (1984). „Artenkenntnis“ in der Sekundarstufe 1 (Hauptschule) [Taxonomic knowledge in secondary school]. Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht Biologie, 32(5), 163–165.
Hüttenmoser, M. (1995). Children and their living surroundings: empirical investigations into the significance of living surroundings for the everyday life and development of children. Children’s Environment, 12(4), 1–17.
Kos, M., & Jerman, J. (2015). Observing natural objects: characteristics of flowering plants perceived as important by 5- and 10-year-old children. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 14(1), 109–120.
Kumar, N., Belhumeur, P. N., Biswas, A., Jacobs, D. W., Kress, W. J., …, & Soares, J. V. (2012). Leafsnap: a computer vision system for automatic plant species identification. In A. Fitzgibbon, S. Lazebnik, P. Perona, Y. Sato, & C. Schmid (Eds.), Computer vision -ECCV 2012 (pp. 502–516). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.
Leather, S. R., & Quicke, D. J. (2009). Where would Darwin have been without taxonomy? Journal of Biological Education, 43(2), 51–52.
Leather, S. R., & Quicke, D. J. (2010). Do shifting baselines in natural history knowledge threaten the environment? The Environmentalist, 30(1), 1–2.
Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2002a). Wahrnehmung biologischer Vielfalt im Siedlungsraum durch Schweizer Kinder [Children’s everyday-life perception of biodiversity]. In R. Klee, & H. Bayrhuber (Eds.), Lehr- und Lernforschung in der Biologiedidaktik [Teaching and learning research in didactics of biology] (pp. 117–130). Innsbruck, Austria: Studienverlag.
Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2002b). The influence of an educational program on children’s perception of biodiversity. The Journal of Environmental Education, 33(2), 22–31.
Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2005). ‘Loveable’ mammals and ‘lifeless’ plants: how children’s interest in common local organisms can be enhanced through observation of nature. International Journal of Science Education, 27(6), 655–677.
Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2006). Investigating nature on the way to school: responses to an educational programme by teachers and their pupils. International Journal of Science Education, 28(8), 895–918.
Lindemann-Matthies, P., Constantinou, C., Lehnert, H. J., Nagel, U., Raper, G., & Kadji-Beltran, C. (2011). Confidence and perceived competence of preservice teachers to implement biodiversity education in primary schools - four comparative case studies from Europe. International Journal of Science Education, 33(16), 2247–2273.
Louv, R. (2006). Last child in the woods. Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin books of Chapel Hill.
Losier, G. F., & Vallerand, R. J. (1994). The temporal relationship between perceived competence and self-determined motivation. The Journal of Social Psychology, 134(6), 793–801.
Lückmann, K., & Menzel, S. (2014). Herbs versus trees: influences on teenagers’ knowledge of plant species. Journal of Biological Education, 48(2), 80–90.
McKendrick, J. H., Bradford, M. G., & Fielder, A. V. (2000). Time for a party! Making sense of the commercialisation of leisure space for children. In S. L. Holloway & G. Valentine (Eds.), Children’s geographies: playing, living, learning (pp. 100–116). London, UK: Routledge.
Menzel, S., & Bögeholz, S. (2009). The loss of biodiversity as a challenge for sustainable development: how do pupils in Chile and Germany perceive resource dilemmas? Research in Science Education, 39(4), 429–447.
Palmberg, I., Berg, I., Jeronen, E., Kärkkäinen, S., Norrgård-Sillanpää, P., ..., & Yli-Panula, E. (2015). Nordic–Baltic student teachers’ identification of and interest in plant and animal species: the importance of species identification and biodiversity for sustainable development. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 26(6), 549–571.
Patrick, P., & Tunnicliffe, S. (2011). What plants and animals do early childhood and primary students name? Where do they see them? Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(5), 630–642.
Patrick, P., Byrne, J., Tunnicliffe, S. D., Asunta, T., Carvalho, G., Havu-Nuutinen, S., …, & Tracana, R. B. (2013). Students (ages 6, 10, 15 years) in six countries knowledge of animals. Nordic Studies in Science Education, 9(1), 18–32.
Pfeiffer, V. D., Scheiter, K., Kühl, T., & Gemballa, S. (2011). Learning how to identify species in a situated learning scenario: using dynamic-static visualizations to prepare students for their visit to the aquarium. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 7(2), 135–147.
Pilgrim, S. E., Cullen, L. C., Smith, D. J., & Pretty, J. (2008). Ecological knowledge is lost in wealthier communities and countries. Environmental Science & Technology, 42(4), 1004–1009.
Pollock, N. B., Howe, N., Irizarry, I., Lorusso, N., Kruger, A., …, & Struwe, L. (2015). Personal BioBlitz: a new way to encourage biodiversity discovery and knowledge in K–99 education and outreach. BioScience, 65(12), 1154–1164.
Prezza, M., Alparone, F. R., Cristallo, C., & Luigi, S. (2005). Parental perception of social risk and of positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy for children: the development of two instruments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25(4), 437–453.
Randler, C., & Bogner, F. (2002). Comparing methods of instruction using bird species identification skills as indicators. Journal of Biological Education, 36(4), 181–188.
Randler, C. (2008). Teaching species identification - a prerequisite for learning biodiversity and understanding ecology. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 4(3), 223–231.
Scherf, G. (1988). Kenntnis häufiger Pflanzen des Straßenrandes und Vorstellungen über Pflanzen bei 9-12jährigen Schülern und bei jungen Erwachsenen (Lehramtstudenten und Schülern einer Fachakademie für Sozialpädagogik) [Knowledge of common roadside plants and ideas about plants of 9-12 year old students and young adults (students of a teachers’ training college and students of an academy of social work)]. Sachunterricht und Mathematik in der Primarstufe, 16(9), 196–204.
Scott, G. W., Goulder, R., Wheeler, P., Scott, L. J., Tobin, M. L., & Marsham, S. (2012). The value of fieldwork in life and environmental sciences in the context of higher education: a case study in learning about biodiversity. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 21(1), 11–21.
Stagg, B. C., & Donkin, M. (2013). Teaching botanical identification to adults: experiences of the UK participatory science project ’Open Air Laboratories’. Journal of Biological Education, 47(2), 104–110.
Swiss Academy of Sciences (2006). L’avenir de la systématique en Suisse. La systématique: une discipline biologique fondamentale [The future of systematics in Switzerland. Systematics – a fundamental discipline]. Swiss Academy of Sciences, Berne. Retrieved 25. 1. 2016 from http://www.scnat.ch/downloads/Systematik_f_leicht.pdf.
Taraban, R., McKenney, C., Peffley, E., & Applegarth, A. (2004). Live specimens more effective than World Wide Web for learning plant material. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 33, 106–110.
Tunnicliffe, S. D., & Reiss, M. J. (1999). Building a model of the environment: how do children see animals? Journal of Biological Education, 33(3), 142–148.
Tunnicliffe, S. D., & Reiss, M. J. (2000). Building a model of the environment: how do children see plants? Journal of Biological Education, 34(4), 172–177.
UNESCO (2005). UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014: the DESD at a glance. Paris, France: UNESCO.
Valentine, G., & McKendrick, J. (1997). Children’s outdoor play: exploring parental concern about children’s safety and the changing of nature of childhood. Geoforum, 28(2), 219–235.
Van Weelie, D., & Wals, A. (2002). Making biodiversity meaningful through environmental education. International Journal of Science Teaching, 24(11), 1143–1156.
Wandersee, J. H. (1986). Plants or animals - which do junior high school students prefer to study? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 23(5), 415–426.
Wandersee, J. H., & Schussler, E. E. (1999). Preventing plant blindness. The American Biology Teacher, 61(2), 84–86.
Wandersee, J. H., & Schussler, E. E. (2001). Toward a theory of plant blindness. Plant Science Bulletin, 47(1), 2-9.
Weilbacher, M. (1993). The renaissance of the naturalist. The Journal of Environmental Education, 25(1), 4–7.
Wyner, Y., & Berkov, A. (2012). The impact of an extended outdoor residential workshop on urban students’ learning and appreciation of biodiversity. Cities and the Environment, 5(1), 1–15.
Published
2017-03-31
How to Cite
Lindemann-Mathies, P., Remmele, M., & Yli-Panula, E. (2017). Professional Competence of Student Teachers to Implement Species Identification in Schools – A Case Study from Germany. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 7(1), 29–48. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.12
Section
FOCUS
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