There is still the issue that many students have problems comprehending gaseous exchange in an ecosystem. When asked where they learned this, student reported that their textbook indicated that plants breath in the carbon dioxide that the animals breath out. Perhaps the most commonly overlooked problem in teaching ecology is that students fail to understand that all species directly or indirectly obtain their energy from the sun. This is a topic that must be tied into the concept of consumers and producers. Emphasis must be placed on the fact that plants obtain their energy directly form the sun.
Consumers eat the plants, and thus, indirectly obtain their energy from the sun.
Often times students fail to include these steps when they are asked to draw out food chains and food webs. Teachers must demonstrate how all the topics of Ecology are intertwined, not separate facts and terms to be memorized. Of the literature used for this paper, all of the researchers relied on interviews and questionnaires to obtain the information needed in assessing a student s understanding of a subject. Teachers must invest time in determining their students misconceptions before presenting a new topic. Once a student confronts their prior knowledge, then they are open to learn and understand.