Semantic networks as mental representation of students in reading images on cell biology

Abstract

A semantic network is a network that represents semantic ties between concepts or a network of frames. It is also used as a type of knowledge representation.This study aims to obtain an overview of the student's mental representation; it's formed when reading the image on cell biology. Participants in the study were 31 students (age 19-20) of Biology Education in the 2018/2019 academic year who attended a Cell Biology lectureat a university in Jakarta, Indonesia. After attending Cell Biology lectures, student's mental representation was measuring. The instrument used to measure mental representation is a worksheet, a modified version of the mental representation measurement model with the CNET-Protocol. The images read by students consist of two pictures, namely the transcription initiation complex and the translation initiation complex. The results showed three semantic network patterns describe students' mental representations, and each student has a different pattern and quality of mental representation. Based on the research findings, biology educators are encouraged to train students to read pictures of biology.