The integration of decision-making competence or comparable constructs into science education has been strongly enforced during the last twenty years. Germany captured the tendency with the introduction of national standards for science education that included a domain that refers to decision-making competence. This domain--"evaluation and…

Nowadays, outreach labs are important informal learning environments in science education. After summarizing research to goals outreach labs focus on, we describe our evidence-based gene technology lab as a model of a research-driven outreach program. Evaluation-based optimizations of hands-on teaching based on cognitive load theory (additional…

The purpose of the current study is to explore the predictors of the Diploma Program scores in biology to resolve the dilemma regarding which international school curriculum is better to prepare students for the Diploma Program. A purposive sample of 135 high school students was drawn from a private international school in Turkey. Data was…

Students' achievement in Biology is often looked up as a benchmark to evaluate the mode of teaching and learning in higher education. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an approach that focuses on students' solving a problem through collaborative groups. There were eighty samples involved in this study. The samples were divided into three…

This study has led to the development of the "Bioethical Values Inventory" that can be used to reveal secondary school students' ethical values in decisions that they make during ethical debates regarding the application of biological sciences. An original inventory development model was used, consisting of four steps and involving…

Whether teachers' conceptions of NOS are reflected in their instructional planning and classroom practice remains an important research question. Consequently, this study investigated teachers' NOS views and their relationship to their classroom practice and delineated the factors that facilitate or impede this relationship. To achieve…

Vee diagrams have been a metacognitive tool to help in learning the nature and structure of knowledge by reflecting on the scientific process and making knowledge much more explicit to learners during the practical work. This study aimed to assess pre-service science teachers' understanding some aspects of NOS by analyzing their reflections…

Twenty-eight freshmen majoring in biology and/or chemistry in an Arab college in Israel, were given a pre-test and a post-test in which they had to identify the control group and design a controlled experiment. During the course an intervention was used. Science was taught by inquiry while using strategies that promote higher-order thinking skills…

In this paper, we trace selected strands of the German path to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). We start by addressing pre-ESD research, and move to the concept of "Gestaltungskompetenz," the core concept of German ESD. The concept had to be realigned as to become more compatible with international research on learning…

Animal dissections are essential parts of anatomy/zoology courses, but their effectiveness is influenced by student attitudes and emotions. Here we examined attitudes toward dissections in 397 prospective biology teachers enrolling two Slovak universities. Perceived disgust of dissections negatively correlated with other attitudes toward…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a typical Chinese high school biology textbook using the textbook standards of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The data were composed of three chapters selected from the textbook. Each chapter was analyzed and rated using the AAAS textbook standards. Pearson correlations…

Syllabi in the science subjects, biology, chemistry and physics at lower and general upper secondary school are compared in the light of their underlying philosophies, goals, objectives and recognized importance in science teaching. Even though all syllabi were prepared within the same framework, great differences among syllabi concerning…

This paper describes and discusses the role of practical work in science education in Ireland. The 2002 report of a government Task Force on the Physical Sciences, set up to consider the problems facing the teaching of the physical sciences in second-level schools in Ireland, has resulted in rapid reform of the science curriculum at both junior…

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an inseparable part of schoolwork and a goal of education to prepare scientifically literate and digitally competent citizens. Yet the introduction of computers into school work has been much slower than its introduction in other spheres of life. Teachers' lack of knowledge/skills and…

A decline in biology interest has often been claimed but seldom with an empirically substantiation. This study was based on a sample of 3rd and 4th grade pupils within the same geographical area as Lowe's (1987, 1992) previous results from southwest Germany from the year 1983. We used a four-point Likert-type questionnaire to assess interest with…