HIGH-SCHOOL PUPILS AND 1ST-YEAR UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS BASED ON DATA-ANALYSIS OF AN ECOLOGICAL CASE-STUDY

Ecological case study data were used to determine high school pupils' and university students' ability to organize and use these data to predict outcomes of interactions between populations within a community. Almost all the pupils and students could reorganize data into satisfactory tables and graphs, but less than 50 per cent of the respondents could integrate clues and predict outcomes acceptably. Students' and pupils' perceptions that the case study enabled them to develop insights into ecological processes support the hypothesis that ecological concepts may be successfully developed through data analysis, but the poor quality of answers given by these respondents suggests that explicit teaching, prior to the use of such an exercise, may greatly enhance its value.