Investigating the Inconsistencies in College Student Responses to Natural Selection Test Questions

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate whether a student's responses to test questions about natural selection were influenced by the extent of the student's identification with the organism. The hypothesis was that a student would be reluctant to invoke the ravages of natural selection upon species with which they possessed a greater empathy than upon species about which they cared less strongly. College students in a general biology course at a major research university were administered a twelve-item multiple-choice test to assess their understandings of natural selection. The test consisted of six parallel items with the difference between parallel items only in the type of organism described. Students were asked to individually rank lists of organisms according to their relative "preference" for each organism. Analyses were conducted to evaluate whether students made disproportionately more errors on those items describing organisms with which they more closely identified.