Assessment of knowledge acquisition about ecological concepts in technical high school students in Mexico

Abstract

The capacity of cognitive assimilation of essential ecological concepts was assessed in two technical high schools in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. A cognitive theory based instrument was designed and administered to assess cognitive change in a randomly defined, representative sample of students from both schools. The reagents of the instrument were prepared as clauses, choosing mutually exclusive answers based on a theoretical criterion (conceptual definition). The quantitative analysis was the statistical valuation of significant change between before and after the educational intervention; the qualitative analysis identified relationships between the concepts of maps prepared by the students. The results point out that the cognitive assimilation of basic ecological concepts is nil or at best limited.