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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1477841

Do future biology teachers bug out with higher insect-related knowledge and more positive attitudes? A comparison of different education levels

Provisionally accepted
Roxanne Gutowski Roxanne Gutowski 1Petr Novotný Petr Novotný 2Vanda Janštová Vanda Janštová 2Jörg Großschedl Jörg Großschedl 1*
  • 1 Institute for Biology Eduation, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
  • 2 Department of Biology Education, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Prague, Czechia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Global species extinction rates are increasing, with a particularly severe impact on insects. Biology teachers are crucial in raising students’ awareness of insects’ importance for the economy (e.g., food production) and ecosystems. Consequently, it is essential for biology teachers to possess comprehensive knowledge about insects and to maintain a positive attitude towards them. Therefore, our cross-sectional study examines the knowledge and attitudes of students across five educational levels with a particular focus on pre-service teachers: levels 1 to 3 represent secondary school students (n = 362) at different stages, while levels 4 and 5 represent pre-service biology teachers (n = 212) in the bachelor’s and master’s programs. Our results show a moderate to strong positive correlation between knowledge and attitudes across all education levels. Participants with a higher educational level have more knowledge on average. Participants in levels 1, 4, and 5 have more positive attitudes than those in levels 2 and 3. No gender differences were observed regarding knowledge but regarding attitudes, with males showing a more positive attitude. Results indicate that pre-service biology teachers are well prepared, showing good insect-related knowledge and relatively positive attitudes.

    Keywords: biology education, knowledge about insects, attitudes towards insects, Secondary school students, Pre-service biology teachers, gender

    Received: 08 Aug 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gutowski, Novotný, Janštová and Großschedl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jörg Großschedl, Institute for Biology Eduation, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.