Abstract:

The respiration plays a main role in students’ understanding of living systems because respiration is essential in the flow of energy through the ecosystem. In this connection energy is released for use by cells through respiration and these processes are significant. Energy however, is abstracted and difficult concept in living systems. This concept is a difficult for secondary school students as well as biology teacher candidate for understands, the simple explaining the concept to students is not enough. If biology teacher candidates have any misconception about respiration this may propagates through teaching processes.

Previously studies have shown that most students think of respiration as synonym for breathing although this definition is reasonable in some contexts, possible it constitutes a critical barrier to a full understanding of respiration in biological science. Students who think of respiration as breathing tend to focus primarily on the gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide in lung. They show little awareness of many other contexts in which cellular respiration occurs, and they cannot explain how we use oxygen or how exhaled carbon dioxide is produced. They are generally unaware that food plays any role in respiration. Finally, they show little appreciation of function of respiration: to make energy available for cellular metabolism. For many students in a beginning biology course, the naive conceptions are deeply in gained. It has been found that for such students even the best explanations are not enough.

In this study, in order to find out biology teacher candidates’ alternative conceptions about respiration a questionnaire has been developed on the basis of Bishops’ work (Bishop,1986) covers a diagnostic test that can be used. This diagnostic test has been designated to reveal how well students understand the biological conceptions of respiration. This student test has been developed and tested on biology teacher candidates by the end of 3rd years of biology course. It is designated to be given as diagnostic pretest and given an appropriate approximately 20 minutes time to complete the questionnaire that included six questions with an answer chose Yes/No. Also it has been demanded from student why they choose Yes or No with explaining on abstract. The questionnaire assessed according to % percentage distribution.
It has been fond that some part of them recognizes breathing a function of taking in O2 and removing CO2, a respiration process without considering cellular energy production. Students should be able to correlate increased metabolic activities with increased demand for energy to increased rates of cellular respiration and, therefore, to increased O2 intake and CO2 production. It should be recognize that since all living cells require energy, all living cells undergo cellular respiration and produce CO2.

Keywords:

Respiration, learning cycle, misconception, biology.