Rationale
Understanding what happens to chromosomes during the process of meiosis is necessary to grasp many fundamental concepts in eukaryotic genetics. However, a large proportion of students at all levels hold misconceptions related to meiosis, which in turn affects their understanding of genetics. The meiosis concept inventory was developed to assist instructors in detecting such misconceptions (in the hope that appropriate remedial action could be taken), and also as a tool to measure the effects of specific learning activities.
Development Timeframe
This inventory has been fully validated, tested in large classes and used to assess the effectiveness of a structured learning activity (a manuscript is currently in preparation). Recently, we have developed two additional questions that are undergoing final student validation.
Number of Questions
The fully validated inventory consists of 17 questions, testing 5-6 independent concepts.
Contributors
Pam Kalas and Jennifer Klenz developed the inventory questions, and over 80 UBC undergraduate students and many faculty members participated in the process. Carol Pollock was also pivotal in the development of this inventory. To read biographical information about Pam and/or Carol, please click on their names or see the ‘People’ page.
