Teaching the role of mutation in evolution by means of a board game

Table 1 Test applied to 109 undergraduate students at UFABC, Brazil

Number	Question	P_b%	P_a%	X ²	P
1	Mutation occurs during DNA replication. [T]	71.6	91.7	21.8	0.001	**
2	Mutation occurs during DNA transcription. [F]	33.0	45.0	7.0	0.008	*
3	Mutation occurs during messenger-RNA translation. [F]	47.7	60.6	7.2	0.007	*
4	Mutation occurs during protein synthesis. [F]	73.4	71.6	0.2	0.665
5	Mutation is a DNA polymerase error. [T]	56.0	48.6	2.4	0.123
6	Mutation is a RNA polymerase error. [F]	37.6	54.1	12.7	0.001	**
7	Mutation is a ribosome error. [F]	86.2	88.1	0.3	0.578
8	Mutation is a transfer-RNA error. [F]	59.6	72.5	7.5	0.006	*
9	The point in the molecule where a mutation will happen is unpredictable. [T]	90.8	97.2	5.4	0.020	*
10	Environmental conditions increase the chance of mutation. [T]	59.6	56.9	0.3	0.558
11	Mutation always results in a new genotype. [T]	74.3	74.3	0.0	1.000
12	Mutation always results in a new phenotype. [F]	79.8	93.6	12.8	0.001	**
13	Individuals with the same genotype are clones. [T]	69.7	97.2	39.1	0.001	**
14	Individuals with the same phenotype are clones. [F]	81.7	90.8	6.1	0.013	*
15	Mutation generates individuals with low fitness. [T]	14.7	19.3	1.8	0.176
16	Mutation generates individuals with high fitness. [T]	22.9	21.1	0.2	0.649
17	Mutation generates genotypic diversity. [T]	94.5	97.2	1.6	0.208
18	Mutation generates phenotypic diversity. [T]	70.6	79.8	4.4	0.035	*
19	ACAGATATA contributed for the knowledge on genetic expression.		97.3
20	ACAGATATA contributed for the knowledge on evolution.		87.2

Group performance in each of 18 true-or-false questions (correct T or F answer in brackets) was compared by chi-square tests in 2 × 2 contingency tables with the number of students that hit or missed each answer, before and after the game. One asterisk denotes significant (α = 0.05) chi-square values (X², df = 1). Two asterisks denote values significant after a Bonferroni correction for the number of tests (α_c = 0.05/18 = 0.003). P_b% and P_a% are percent hits of the group before and after the game, respectively. An a priori overall test comparing individual scores in the entire questionnaire indicates a significant increasing in global performance after ACAGATATA (medians: P_b% = 66.7% and P_a% = 72.2%; Wilcoxon W = 2754, P = 0.004, N = 109). The last two questions were applied only at the second turn.

ISSN: 1936-6434