Concept Inventory Development Reveals Common Student Misconceptions about Microbiology †
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Authors:
Amy G. Briggs1,‡,
Lee E. Hughes2,‡,*,
Robert E. Brennan3,
John Buchner4,
Rachel E. A. Horak5,
D. Sue Katz Amburn6,
Ann H. McDonald7,
Todd P. Primm8,
Ann C. Smith9,
Ann M. Stevens10,
Sunny B. Yung8,
Timothy D. Paustian11
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Received 10 March 2017 Accepted 13 June 2017 Published 30 October 2017
- ©2017 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology
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[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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Supplemental materials available athttp://asmscience.org/jmbe - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203. Phone: 940-565-4137. E-mail: [email protected].
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‡ These authors contributed equally to the work.
Abstract:
Misconceptions, or alternative conceptions, are incorrect understandings that students have incorporated into their prior knowledge. The goal of this study was the identification of misconceptions in microbiology held by undergraduate students upon entry into an introductory, general microbiology course. This work was the first step in developing a microbiology concept inventory based on the American Society for Microbiology’s Recommended Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Microbiology. Responses to true/false (T/F) questions accompanied by written explanations by undergraduate students at a diverse set of institutions were used to reveal misconceptions for fundamental microbiology concepts. These data were analyzed to identify the most difficult core concepts, misalignment between explanations and answer choices, and the most common misconceptions for each core concept. From across the core concepts, nineteen misconception themes found in at least 5% of the coded answers for a given question were identified. The top five misconceptions, with coded responses ranging from 19% to 43% of the explanations, are described, along with suggested classroom interventions. Identification of student misconceptions in microbiology provides a foundation upon which to understand students’ prior knowledge and to design appropriate tools for improving instruction in microbiology.
References & Citations
Supplemental Material
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Appendix 1: MCI T/F questions
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Abstract:
Misconceptions, or alternative conceptions, are incorrect understandings that students have incorporated into their prior knowledge. The goal of this study was the identification of misconceptions in microbiology held by undergraduate students upon entry into an introductory, general microbiology course. This work was the first step in developing a microbiology concept inventory based on the American Society for Microbiology’s Recommended Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Microbiology. Responses to true/false (T/F) questions accompanied by written explanations by undergraduate students at a diverse set of institutions were used to reveal misconceptions for fundamental microbiology concepts. These data were analyzed to identify the most difficult core concepts, misalignment between explanations and answer choices, and the most common misconceptions for each core concept. From across the core concepts, nineteen misconception themes found in at least 5% of the coded answers for a given question were identified. The top five misconceptions, with coded responses ranging from 19% to 43% of the explanations, are described, along with suggested classroom interventions. Identification of student misconceptions in microbiology provides a foundation upon which to understand students’ prior knowledge and to design appropriate tools for improving instruction in microbiology.

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Author and Article Information
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Received 10 March 2017 Accepted 13 June 2017 Published 30 October 2017
- ©2017 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology
-
[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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Supplemental materials available athttp://asmscience.org/jmbe - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203. Phone: 940-565-4137. E-mail: [email protected].
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‡ These authors contributed equally to the work.
Figures
Core concepts used to uncover common misconceptions about microbiology.

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FIGURE 1
Core concepts used to uncover common misconceptions about microbiology.
Concept inventory question difficulty, as measured by proportion of correct answers (true or false choice) (black bars) and correct explanations (free response to “Please explain your response”) (white bars), grouped by microbiology core concept.

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FIGURE 2
Concept inventory question difficulty, as measured by proportion of correct answers (true or false choice) (black bars) and correct explanations (free response to “Please explain your response”) (white bars), grouped by microbiology core concept.
Ratio of correct explanations to correct answers for each microbiology core concept. Subjects with lower bars indicate answering correctly, but not being able to explain why. Evo = evolution; Cell = cell structure and function; Met = metabolic pathways; Gen = information flow and genetics; Sys = microbial systems; Imp = impact of microorganisms.

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FIGURE 3
Ratio of correct explanations to correct answers for each microbiology core concept. Subjects with lower bars indicate answering correctly, but not being able to explain why. Evo = evolution; Cell = cell structure and function; Met = metabolic pathways; Gen = information flow and genetics; Sys = microbial systems; Imp = impact of microorganisms.
Ratio of correct explanations to correct true/false answers for each concept inventory question, grouped by microbiology core concept. Horizontal bars indicate a ratio of 1:1, which would indicate an equal proportion of students providing correct answers and correct explanations (ratios < 1 indicate fewer students provided correct explanations than correct answers, and ratios > 1 indicate fewer students provided correct answers than correct explanations.)

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FIGURE 4
Ratio of correct explanations to correct true/false answers for each concept inventory question, grouped by microbiology core concept. Horizontal bars indicate a ratio of 1:1, which would indicate an equal proportion of students providing correct answers and correct explanations (ratios < 1 indicate fewer students provided correct explanations than correct answers, and ratios > 1 indicate fewer students provided correct answers than correct explanations.)