Typology of explanations of biology and geology phenomena: an exploratory study in secondary education
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The present study examines the quality of explanations provided by secondary school students regarding the effects of vaccines and global warming. A total of 120 students of both genders participated, comprising those from the 7th and 10th years (Compulsory Secondary Education) and the 11th year of the Science-specialised Baccalaureate programme, all from three educational institutions in Valencia, Spain. The task was presented in a neutral manner and without prior information, simply mentioning the phenomenon and asking for an explanation. The students’ written responses were analysed qualitatively and categorised using a model previously proposed in specialised literature, in which causality is a fundamental element of a scientific explanation. The quality of the explanations was lower than expected. Overall, secondary school students either do not consider or do not know how to consider complex causal mechanisms and often fail to include even simple ones in their explanations. Additionally, students did not incorporate scientific laws or major scientific principles in their explanations. No significant differences were observed in the overall quality of explanations across academic levels. These findings highlight the need to carefully address the development of this important skill during science education in secondary schools.
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