Student-Generated Questions as Opportunities for Sensemaking in Undergraduate Biology

Abstract

Research in science education highlights the value of sensemaking—the process of identifying gaps in understanding and constructing explanations to fill them—for student learning and engagement. Yet college students often perceive undergraduate biology classrooms as prioritizing correct answers over their own questions and ideas. In this paper, we argue that eliciting students’ questions about what they find confusing can create opportunities for them to engage in creative and critical thinking to make sense of biological phenomena. We illustrate this conceptual argument with examples drawn from three interviews with college students about evolutionary biology. We show how framing interviews around students' questions led to productive biological sensemaking and conclude by discussing implications for how biology instructors might foster a sensemaking approach in their classrooms.