Diffusion and osmosis are important biological concepts that students often struggle to understand. These are important concepts because they are the basis for many complex biological processes, such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration. We examine a wide variety of representations used by experienced teachers to teach diffusion and osmosis. To help teachers select appropriate representations for their students, we briefly describe each representation and discuss its pros and cons. After teachers select representations, we offer recommendations for sequencing them. We recommend beginning with macroscopic-level representations that easily allow students to visualize the phenomenon, then moving to microscopic-level representations (cell-level), and finally exploring the phenomenon at the molecular level using virtual representations.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
August 2012
Research Article|
August 01 2012
Red Onions, Elodea, or Decalcified Chicken Eggs? Selecting & Sequencing Representations for Teaching Diffusion & Osmosis
Deanna Lankford,
Deanna Lankford
1DEANNA LANKFORD is a Research Associate at the University of Missouri Science Education Center, 321 Townsend Hall, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail: lankfordd@missouri.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Patricia Friedrichsen
Patricia Friedrichsen
2PATRICIA FRIEDRICHSEN is Associate Professor of Learning, Teaching, & Curriculum at the University of Missouri, 321-E Townsend Hall, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail: friedrichsenp@missouri.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
The American Biology Teacher (2012) 74 (6): 392–399.
Citation
Deanna Lankford, Patricia Friedrichsen; Red Onions, Elodea, or Decalcified Chicken Eggs? Selecting & Sequencing Representations for Teaching Diffusion & Osmosis. The American Biology Teacher 1 August 2012; 74 (6): 392–399. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2012.74.6.7
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.