TRANSPORT OF WATER MOLECULES THROUGH BIOLOGICAL
MEMBRANES – A NEGLECTED TOPIC IN MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCE
EDUCATION
A STUDY OF UPPER SECONDARY TEXTBOOKS AND STUDENTS’ CONCEPTIONS
Caroline A. Larsson1 & Carl-Johan Rundgren2
1
National Graduate School in Science and Technology Education (FontD), ISV, Linköping University, Sweden
2
Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Linköping University, Sweden.
Understanding the diffusion of water into and out of the cell through osmosis is a
fundamental process for learning and teaching of biology. The driving force of water transport
into and out of the cell is osmosis, and the major proportion moves via specialized
transmembranal water-channels, aquaporins. The objective for this study was to i) investigate
students’ awareness of water-channels, and to ii) categorize descriptions of water transport in
upper secondary textbooks in general science, biology, and chemistry. Popular science
textbooks were analysed according to the principles of content analysis and a questionnaire
with open-ended question and statements with a Likert scale was used. The result indicated
that 49 % of the respondents seemed to be unaware of the fact that water is transported
through specialised channels. Besides, notions about aquaporins, or at least water-channels,
are nonexistent in almost all textbooks investigated. The result reveals that teaching of water
transport is not up to date with current scientific knowledge.