As part of the Didactic Reconstruction research model, I conducted a study on the ideas of "units in nature". The centre of the study is the understanding of the ecological terms - "community", "ecosystem" and "earth as ecosystem" - by scientists and students and the clarification of the epistemological positions in the ideas expressed. The term "ecosystem" is the most widely used in ecology and its necessity the most contested. Not only the multitude of definitions, but also the criteria for the conceptualisation (e.g. spatiality, homeostasis) are critically examined. The survey of student perceptions is based on the controversial views in ecology. The units in nature were described by the pupils from a spatial ("levels of organisation") and temporal ("history of the earth") perspective. The ideas of the scientists and those of the pupils are not categorically separated as "life-world" or "scientific" when comparing them, but rather similarities are worked out and the causes of the respective understanding are investigated. It is assumed that discrepancies in the ideas may be due to (a lack of) epistemological considerations (e.g. understanding from the position of everyday realism). The indicated differences of opinion are also linked to difficulties in selecting content and learning in ecology lessons. A specific scientific definition of ecological units should not be adopted for teaching, but rather the comparison and analysis of different ideas should be used for learning: Basically, from a subject-didactic point of view, all subject-related conceptions and student conceptions are significant for learning, as their reflection contributes to learning.

I completed my doctorate in 2006.

I graduated from the School of Education at the University of Tyrnau (Slovakia) as a primary school teacher, specialising in biology. After graduating, I worked as a teacher at a comprehensive school in Bratislava for one school year. I then returned to the University of Tyrnau, where I worked in biology didactics. In the academic year 2000/01 I worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Zurich on the problems of didactic constructivism. From October 2001 to October 2004 I was a Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg scholarship holder in the doctoral programme "Didactic Teaching and Learning Research - Didactic Reconstruction".

Since then, Patricia Jelemenská has been the national coordinator of TIMMS projects in Slovakia and then worked at the Austrian Centre of Excellence for Biology Didactics (AECC) at the University of Vienna. She then worked in the Biology and Didactics of Biology working group at the
University of Dortmund.

Publications

Jelemenská, P. (2004). Lifeworld experiences and the understanding of units in nature. In H. Gropengießer, A. Janßen-Bartels & E. Sander (Eds.). Lessons for life (pp. 60-69). Cologne: Aulis.

Sander, E., Jelemenská, P. & Kattmann, U. (2004). Where does oxygen come from? Reflections on the geological-biological imbalance. Teaching Biology, 28 (299), 20 - 24.

Jelemenská, P., Sander, E. & Kattmann, U. (2005). Towards a better understanding of ecology. Results of two studies conducted within the framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction. In: Ergazaki, M, Lewis, J. & Zogza, V. (Eds.), Trends in biology education. Research in the new biology era. Patras: Patras University Press, 3 - 14.

Jelemenská, P. (2006). Understanding biology: ecological units. Contributions to Didactic Reconstruction 12. Oldenburg: Didaktisches Zentrum.

Jelemenská, P. (2008). "Ecosystem" and "biotic community". What image do learners have? Mathematics and science education 61 (4), 199-205.

Jelemenská, P. & Kattmann, U. (2008). Understanding the units of nature: From reification to reflection. A contribution to Educational Reconstruction in the field of ecology In: Hammann, M., Reiss, M., Boulter, C. & Tunnicliffe, S.D. (Eds.), Biology in Context. Learning and teaching for the twenty-first century. London : University of London, 29-39.

Jelemenská, P. (2007). How to assess competences in ecology? TIMSS tasks on ecology in the perspective of didactic reconstruction results. Journal of Didactics of Natural Sciences 13, 53-70.

Jelemenská, P. (2012). Teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning evolution - a case study of didactic coaching. Journal of Didactics of Natural Sciences 18, 229-259.

Hoffmeister, P. (215). Ecological footprint: Quantity or area consumption? Development of learning tasks on the "ecological footprint" taking into account student perceptions. Mathematics and Science Education, 68, (1), 45-52.