| The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument that could be used to examine secondary-level biology teachers' understanding of selected biological concepts.; The General Biology Misconceptions Test was developed as a 15-item instrument, with each item consisting of a two-tier multiple-choice test question. The first tier of each item was designed to examine teachers' content knowledge of a selected biological concept, and the second tier was designed to examine teachers' reasons for answering the way they did for each first-tier question.; The developed instrument was mailed to members of four groups of secondary-level biology teachers in the state of Utah. The four groups of inservice teachers who participated in the study were: (a) high school biology teachers who had majored in biology, (b) high school biology teachers who had not majored in biology, (c) middle school biology teachers who had majored in biology, and (d) middle school biology teachers who had not majored in biology. A total of 107 inservice teachers from Utah and 33 preservice biology teachers from two Utah universities completed and returned the General Biology Misconceptions Test.; The tabulated scores on the General Biology Misconceptions Test revealed that several misconceptions or incomplete understandings of biology concepts existed among the participating inservice and preservice biology teachers. Furthermore, data analysis showed significant differences between the mean test scores of the following groups of teachers (with the first group mentioned in each comparison scoring higher on the General Biology Misconceptions Test): (a) high school biology teachers and middle school biology teachers, (b) biology teachers with a major in biology and biology teachers without a major in biology, (c) high school biology teachers with a major in biology and high school biology teachers without a major in biology, (d) middle school biology teachers with a major in biology and middle school biology teachers without a major in biology, (e) high school biology teachers with a major in biology and middle school biology teacher. |
