Representaciones de los alumnos en Biología: estado de la cuestión y problemas para su investigación en el aula

Abstract

Within the current perspective of the students' alternative frameworks research, the number of physic concepts investigated is far superior and better known than the biological ones; thus, a general aim of this paper is to outline some of the work done in the latter area. There are two sections in this paper. The first presents a main selection of the research done into biological topics with a more detailed analysis of the studies related to students' conceptions of heredity. A central feature of this analysis is to point out the underlining learning theories held by researchers and their selection of research designs and techniques accordingly. The significance of these studies for teachers are sketched. The second section outlines: first, some difficulties regarding the process and interpretation of the research results, and second, the scarcity of class intervention studies.