Development and testing of a methodology for diagnosing and correcting misconceptions about biophysical processes among students of national groups

Abstract

This article examines the diagnosis and correction of misconceptions about biophysical processes among biology students in national (Kazakh-speaking) groups. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that osmosis, diffusion and membrane potential are often learned as terms or formulas but do not always develop into stable conceptual understanding. The novelty of the study lies in proposing a diagnostic and corrective methodology that takes into account cognitive barriers and linguistic-educational conditions of biophysics learning in Kazakhstan’s higher education context. The experiment was conducted at M. Utemisov West Kazakhstan State University and involved 48 second-year students: 23 in the control group and 25 in the experimental group. The diagnostic tools included multiple-choice tasks, open explanations, diagram analysis and situational tasks requiring knowledge transfer. The corrective methodology was based on cognitive conflict, visual modelling, work with terminology and collective analysis of erroneous statements. After the formative stage, the proportion of students with a low level of understanding in the experimental group decreased from 44.0% to 16.0%, while the proportion with a high level increased from 20.0% to 44.0%. Intergroup comparison indicated a statistical tendency and a moderate practical effect. The results suggest that the methodology is promising, although further testing on a larger sample is required.