¿Qué evalúan las preguntas sobre división celular en las pruebas de acceso a la universidad?

Abstract

We live surrounded by hoaxes, so it is necessary for schooling to make us scientifically literate in order to be able to make informed decisions about socio-scientific issues such as the use of pseudo-therapies to treat cancer. It is therefore important to know how to assess what has been learned at all stages of education, including the Baccalaureate. Given that there are hardly any studies that consider how the learning acquired in Biology is assessed in the university entrance exams (EvAU in Spanish), this study analyses the cognitive demand required to answer the 188 questions on a biological process as relevant as cell division, which have been asked in the EvAU Biology exams of the Community of Madrid from 2002 to 2019; distinguishing among product/factual, narrative and process questions. The results show a predominance of narrative and product questions, with lower cognitive demand, with a clear trend towards an increase in product questions until 2016.  In addition, some statements are repeated and questions tend to focus on: mitosis, animal cells, chromosome dynamics or stages such as anaphase; ignoring other important structures and moments of the process such as the achromatic spindle or the prometaphase. Possible improvements are discussed, such as the inclusion of process questions that require decision making.