RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STUDENTS MEANINGFUL LEARNING ORIENTATION AND THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF GENETICS TOPICS

This study explored factors predicting the extent to which high school students (N = 140) acquired meaningful understanding of the biologica l topics of meiosis, the Punnett-square method, and the relationships between these topics. This study (a) examined mental modeling as a tec hnique for measuring students' meaningful understanding of the topics, (b) measured students' predisposed, generalized tendency to learn mea ningfully (meaningful learning orientation), (c) determined the extent to which students' meaningful learning orientation predicted meaningf ul understanding beyond that predicted by aptitude and achievement mot ivation, (d) experimentally tested two instructional treatments (relat ionships presented to students, relationships generated by students), (e) explored the relationships of meaningful learning orientation, pri or knowledge, instructional treatment, and all interactions of these v ariables in predicting meaningful understanding. The results of correl ations and multiple regressions indicated that meaningful learning ori entation contributed to students' attainment of meaningful understandi ng independent of aptitude and achievement motivation. Meaningful lear ning orientation and prior knowledge interacted in unique ways for eac h topic to predict students' attainment of meaningful understanding. I nstructional treatment had relatively little relationship to students' acquisition of meaningful understanding, except for learners midrange between meaningful and rote. These findings imply that a meaningful l earning approach among students may be important, perhaps as much or m ore than aptitude and achievement motivation, for their acquisition of interrelated, meaningful understandings of science.