Abstract

POSTIGO, YOLANDA  and  LOPEZ-MANJON, ASUNCIÓN. Students' Conceptions of Biological Images as Representational Devices. Rev. colomb. psicol. [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.2, pp.265-284. ISSN 0121-5469.

The study analyzes students' conceptions of the representational nature attributed to images in biology. The conceptions regarding the relationship between representation and referent can be categorized into realism and constructivism. 171 students aged 12, 14, and 16 participated in the study. Some had had specific instruction in biology and some had not.  Several instruments, such as Likert scale questionnaires, and multiple choice and open-ended questions were used to measure the conceptions. Students show realistic conception about the nature of a cell microphotography. The primacy of perceptive aspects in visual representations may explain these results, the difficulties students have in learning them, and the need of their explicit instruction.

Keywords : students' conceptions; learning; visual representation; representational nature of images; biology; earning difficulties.

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