scholarly journals Teaching and learning through scientific practices in the laboratory in biology education

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Mari Sjøberg
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Secondary Biology ◽  
Support Students

The overall aim of this thesis is to explore challenges and opportunities with teaching and learning through scientific practices in the laboratory in biology education. This thesis is based on three articles that are introduced and discussed in an extended abstract. My focus is on practice in the laboratory, and in the thesis, I have investigated practice in two different ways. First, I have investigated upper secondary biology teachers’ practices as reported in a survey and group interview (Article I). Secondly, I have analyzed undergraduate biology students’ practices through microscale analysis of their reasoning when constructing representations in the laboratory (Article II and III). The findings from Article I show that the biology teachers’ primarily report that they implement teacher-directed laboratory work with the aim of illustrating content knowledge. The findings from Article II and III shows how different representations, such as drawings and gestures, support students’ model-based reasoning. Based on these findings, I argue for the fruitfulness of a focus on modelling through representation construction as a scientific practice in the laboratory.  

scholarly journals Using a Post-Box Strategy to Elicit & Address Student Misconceptions in Biology

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 668-672
Author(s):  
Kam Ho (Kennedy) Chan
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Student Misconceptions ◽  
Secondary Biology

Students often bring to biology classrooms ideas that are not in line with scientific thought. Simply telling students that their ideas are wrong does not always help advance their scientific thinking. This article describes a teaching and learning activity that allows secondary biology teachers to elicit, interpret, and address students' misconceptions in a meaningful way. The activity provides a chance for students to discuss their nascent ideas about biology with their peers in a safe and nonthreatening environment. More importantly, the activity engages students in a process of reconsidering their initial ideas through reasoning about why certain ideas are scientifically correct.

scholarly journals Biology education research: building integrative frameworks for teaching and learning about living systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross H. Nehm
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

AbstractThis critical review examines the challenges and opportunities facing the field of Biology Education Research (BER). Ongoing disciplinary fragmentation is identified as a force working in opposition to the development of unifying conceptual frameworks for living systems and for understanding student thinking about living systems. A review of Concept Inventory (CI) research is used to illustrate how the absence of conceptual frameworks can complicate attempts to uncover student thinking about living systems and efforts to guide biology instruction. The review identifies possible starting points for the development of integrative cognitive and disciplinary frameworks for BER. First, relevant insights from developmental and cognitive psychology are reviewed and their connections are drawn to biology education. Second, prior theoretical work by biologists is highlighted as a starting point for re-integrating biology using discipline-focused frameworks. Specifically, three interdependent disciplinary themes are proposed as central to making sense of disciplinary core ideas: unity and diversity; randomness, probability, and contingency; and scale, hierarchy, and emergence. Overall, the review emphasizes that cognitive and conceptual grounding will help to foster much needed epistemic stability and guide the development of integrative empirical research agendas for BER.

scholarly journals How Pre-service Teachers Learn Microbiology using Lecture, Animations, and Laboratory Activities at one Private University in Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 328-345
Author(s):  
Josiane Mukagihana ◽  
Florien Nsanganwimana ◽  
Catherine M Aurah
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Instructional Methods ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Laboratory Activity ◽  
Laboratory Activities ◽  
Significant Difference

Observing classroom practices and checking the effect of instructional methods on academic achievement are crucial in the teaching and learning process. The present study was aimed at discovering the dominating pre-service biology teachers’ and instructors’ activities in microbiology classes and their respective effects when animations–based instructions and small-group laboratory activities are used. An equivalent time-series design was applied using a small group of participants in year two biology education (N=30, 16 female and 14 males), and a pre-test was used as a pre-intervention comparison test, while a post-test alternated with interventions. Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) was used to record classroom activities. Before using its inter-rater agreement reached 80%. Pre-service Biology Teachers Achievement Test (PBTAT) with a Pearson’s r reliability of .51 served to measure instructional methods' effect on academic achievement. It was found that the main teaching methods were activities, lectures and animation classes, while group work and instructors moving among the students and guiding them characterized small-group laboratory activity classes. All interventions improved pre-service biology teachers’ academic achievement; however, a statistically significant difference (df=28, p<.05) existed between interventions where small group laboratory activities proved a considerable effect size (d=3.86). No statistically significant difference (df=1, p>.05) was found regarding gender after interventions. However, females scored better than males after the lecture and laboratory methods, while the opposite happened after animation-based instruction. Therefore, we recommend using small-group laboratory activities that promote active learning through student small-group work to improve pre-service biology teachers’ academic achievement in biology.

scholarly journals Considering Grand Challenges in Biology Education: Rationales and Proposals for Future Investigations to Guide Instruction and Enhance Student Understanding in the Life Sciences

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 483-492
Author(s):  
William F. McComas ◽  
Michael J. Reiss ◽  
Edith Dempster ◽  
Yeung Chung Lee ◽  
Clas Olander ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Grand Challenges ◽  
International Group ◽  
Biology Instruction

An international group of biology education researchers offer their views on areas of scholarship that might positively impact our understanding of teaching and learning in biology and potentially inform practices in biology and life science instruction. This article contains a series of essays on topics that include a framework for biology education research, considerations in the preparation of biology teachers, increasing accessibility to biology for all learners, the role and challenges of language in biology teaching, sociocultural issues in biology instruction, and assisting students in coping with scientific innovations. These contributions are framed by a discussion of the value of defining several potential “grand challenges” in biology education.

scholarly journals APPLICATION OF PLANT DETERMINATION PRATICUM MODEL BASED JAS (EXPLORING THE SURROUNDINGS) IN KELIMUTU NATIONAL PARK

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jumilah Gago
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
Plant Taxonomy ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Model Based ◽  
School Year

This study aims to use a model and learning tools with the JAS (Natural Exploration) approach integrated in the plant taxonomy course on plant determination. The research method in this research is descriptive using a qualitative approach. The research was conducted in September - November 2019 in the odd semester of the 2019/2020 school year. Population and sample The population in this study were 43 students of the Biology Education study program, University of Flores. The sampling technique in this research is non probability sampling with purposive sampling technique. The sample used was 43 students in the study group (rombel) of the plant taxonomy course, odd semester 2019/2020. The research location is in the Kelimutu National Park. The result of this research is that the implementation of the taxonomic learning model based on natural exploration is considered quite interesting and can encourage meaningful teaching and learning activities. According to the results of interviews with biology students, this method has advantages, including (1) being able to improve understanding of taxonomy courses, which identify plants, (2) Being an attractive medium to trigger learning motivation because it is related to the real context around it, (3) it can guiding those who have been less concerned with the richness of their local culture by motivating them to be more proud of exploring the nature around their community, and (4) guiding to view taxonomy material as meaningful lessons, not just memorized concepts.

scholarly journals Tornedalian Teachers’ and Principals’ in the Swedish Education System: Exploring Decolonial Pockets in the Aftermaths of ‘Swedification’

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-101
Author(s):  
Pär Poromaa Isling
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
School Staff ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
School Practices ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Tural Identity

This article explores decolonial pockets among Tornedalian teachers and principals by scrutinising the pre-requisites for school staff to integrate Tornedalen’s minority culture and practise the Meänkieli language in ordinary teaching and learning. It also investigates the challenges and opportunities aligned with such en-deavours. The data collection is based on qualitative focus-group and individual interviews with teachers, principals and pupils at upper secondary schools in two Tornedalian municipalities, in Northern Sweden. The findings reveal a practice in which teachers’ and principals’ Tornedalian cultural background is either more or less prominent, depending on the occasion. Particularly in the classroom context, teachers are obliged to mute and put aside their minority language, Meänkieli. Thus, they transform their behaviour and adopt a Swedish manner of conduct in their contacts with pupils. Consequently, teachers’ Tornedalian cul-tural identity becomes less prominent. Simultaneously, Swedish school culture takes precedence, and its authority controls what can be seen as proper educational subjects as well as the classroom’s social interactions. The analysis, guided by decolonising perspectives, reveals that minority language and cultural practices are mainly alive and active in the unofficial settings of the schools. These manifestations of resistance against the Swedish language and Swedish culture’s dominance of school practices, which remain alive in these decolonial pockets, is not organised and not part of official school practice. However, the conversations with school staff and pupils revealed that the competence, desire and strategies exist to ignite a pedagogy more inclusive of minority perspectives that can facilitate the transfer of Tornedalian minority knowledge and perspectives to pupils. This could empower decolonial Meänkieli practices and revitalise Tornedalian culture among young Tornedalians.

scholarly journals Broadening Participation in Biology Education Research: Engaging Community College Students and Faculty

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. mr1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Schinske ◽  
Virginia L. Balke ◽  
M. Gita Bangera ◽  
Kevin M. Bonney ◽  
Sara E. Brownell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Teaching Learning

Nearly half of all undergraduates are enrolled at community colleges (CCs), including the majority of U.S. students who represent groups underserved in the sciences. Yet only a small minority of studies published in discipline-based education research journals address CC biology students, faculty, courses, or authors. This marked underrepresentation of CC biology education research (BER) limits the availability of evidence that could be used to increase CC student success in biology programs. To address this issue, a diverse group of stakeholders convened at the Building Capacity for Biology Education Research at Community Colleges meeting to discuss how to increase the prevalence of CC BER and foster participation of CC faculty as BER collaborators and authors. The group identified characteristics of CCs that make them excellent environments for studying biology teaching and learning, including student diversity and institutional cultures that prioritize teaching, learning, and assessment. The group also identified constraints likely to impede BER at CCs: limited time, resources, support, and incentives, as well as misalignment between doing research and CC faculty identities as teachers. The meeting culminated with proposing strategies for faculty, administrators, journal editors, scientific societies, and funding agencies to better support CC BER.

Enhancing Biology Students' Academic Achievement and Attitude Through Self-Regulated Learning Strategy in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta Central Senatorial District

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Oyovwi Edarho Oghenevwede
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Attitude Score ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Regulated Learning ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Senior Secondary

Abstract This study focused on enhancing biology students' achievement and attitude through Self-Regulated Learning Strategy in secondary schools in Delta Central Senatorial District. The study adopted the quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control group design. Four research questions and four research hypotheses were formulated and raised to guide the study. The population of the study was all the biology students in senior secondary school II (SS II) in all the government-owned public secondary schools in Delta Central Senatorial District with an estimation of six thousand, four hundred and twenty-one students (6,421). A sample of two hundred and forty-five (245) senior secondary schools II students randomly selected from four (4) public mixed secondary schools was used for the study. The Simple Random Sampling Technique was adopted to draw the sample. The instruments used for data collection were the Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Biology Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ). BAT and BAQ were validated by I Measurement and Evaluation and Biology teachers that have taught biology for more than ten (10) years. The reliability of BAT and BAQ were established using Kuder-Richardson formula 21 and Cronbach Alpha which yielded a coefficient of internal consistencies of 0.75 for BAT and 0.80 for BAQ respectively. Data were collected by administering the biology achievement test (BAT) and biology attitude questionnaire (BAQ) as pre-test and post-test. The data obtained were analysed using mean, standard deviation Analysis of Variation (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The result shows that self-regulated regulated learning strategy significantly enhanced students' achievement in biology compared to the lecture method; there was no significant difference between the mean achievement score of male and female students taught biology using self-regulated learning strategy; there was a significant difference between the mean attitude score of students taught using self-regulated learning strategy compared with those taught with lecture method in favour of students taught using the self-regulated learning strategy and there was no significant difference between the mean attitude score of male and female students taught biology using self-regulated learning strategy. Based on the findings it was concluded that self-regulated learning strategy significantly enhances students' achievements and attitudes in biology. It was therefore recommended that biology teachers should adopt the strategy in teaching biology at the secondary school level and that biology teachers should be trained on how to use the skills of self-regulated learning strategy effectively.

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