HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS CONCEPTS REGARDING FOOD-CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS - AMULTINATIONAL STUDY

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of high school stud ents with regard to food chains and food webs. This investigation incl uded 96 randomly selected students from three countries (32 from each country): the USA, Australia and Canada. Each subject was individually interviewed using the interviews about events method. During each int erview, the investigators asked the subject a set of standard question s that was developed prior to the beginning of this study. The investi gators found that most of the students from all three countries had so me difficulty in providing a complete explanation of the complex feedi ng relationship that occurs within a food web and that some of these s tudents revealed one or more misconceptions about these relationships.