Alternative Framsworks of students about living and non-livings

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Students may have very different ideas about what is living. They tend to over emphasize movement as a characteristic of living things and some may suggest that clouds and fire are alive because they move.

 In order to know the students alternative framework about characteristics of living things, a interview was conducted from the group of students. (See appendix II) When a question was asked from the students about movement that why do living things move their responses were:
S7 have responded that “due to life, living things move.”

One students had a point of view that “they have internal organs like heart, there is internal life in them like heart and organs. In fact living is telling that this is living thing, it can move and can breathe”

Two Students said that “due to moveable quality and organs living things move.”
One students have replied that “Living can breathe, move because they have sense and walk like human being walk” Other student said that “due to sense of movement living things move”

Again they were not clear about this particular characteristic of living things, however when the question was asked from the participants about machine that machine is also move so is it a living thing? They all were disagree and said no, because it does not have the organs which living things have like brain, heart, internal life or metabolic activities.

                                                Further, literature says students often believe that plants perform “reverse breathing” in which they inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. In reality, plants use and produce carbon dioxide and oxygen through two processes: photosynthesis and respiration. Students usually have misconception about respiration and photosynthesis. Students have misconception about plant’s respiration, they usually consider photosynthesis is the respiratory process in plants. Students also think that photosynthesis is a process for plants and respiration is a process only for animals. But plants do both. In very simplified terms, during photosynthesis, energy from the sun is stored in carbohydrates like sugars. In respiration, that stored energy is used to perform tasks.



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engrhassan

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