The Effectiveness of Concept Teaching Using Concept Maps on Academic Achievement and Elimination of Misconceptions: Protein Synthesis Case

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of concept maps on the academic achievements of Biology teacher candidates and the elimination of misconceptions comparing the method with the traditional rote learning method. The quasi-experimental design, specifically, the pre-test post-test control group type was used in this research to address the research questions. The research was carried out with 60 Biology teacher candidates. Achievement test and diagnostic test were used as data collection tools throughout the research. SPSS version 20 software was used to analyze the obtained quantitative data. Independent samples t-test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the control and experimental group students’ level of prior knowledge regarding the subject of protein synthesis. The findings revealed no statistically significant difference between the groups in pre-test (ρ > .05). However, the findings revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups, in the post-test, in favor of the concept map method used for the experiment group (ρ < .05). The increase in the post-test scores of the experiment group students indicated that the teaching method based on concept maps positively affected the students' academic achievement and elimination of misconceptions. Research indicated that students could not establish a correct relationship between the concepts of DNA, RNA, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, nucleus, chromosome, gene, genetic code, codon, anti-codon, translation, transcription, ribosome, protein, and amino acid terms taught in protein synthesis subject. It was concluded that the areas of use for concept maps should not be limited as a teaching tool, but should be further extended to for determining misconceptions, eliminating misconceptions, and evaluating the instruction.