Process diagrams are important tools in biology for explaining processes such as protein synthesis, compound cycles and the like. The aim of the present study was to measure the ability to solve process-diagram problems in biology and its relationship with prior knowledge, spatial ability and working memory. For this purpose, we developed a test…

Biology is a science that involves study of the diversity of living organisms. This diversity has always generated questions and has motivated cultures to seek plausible explanations for the differences and similarities between types of organisms. In biology teaching, these issues are addressed by adopting an evolutionary approach. The aim of this…

Excessive exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes sunburn and has been consistently associated with increased susceptibility to melanoma and skin ageing. Acknowledging the need to promote healthy sun exposure habits, numerous educational initiatives have been developed to raise public awareness towards this issue. However, studies…

Students tend to learn genetics by rote and may not realise the interrelationships in daily life. Because reasoning abilities are necessary to construct relationships between concepts and rote learning impedes the students' sound understanding, it was predicted that having high level of formal reasoning and adopting meaningful learning…

Plants are characterised by a great diversity of easily observed features such as colours or shape, but children show low interest in learning about them. Here, we integrated modern theory of adaptive memory and evolutionary views of the function of fruit colouration on children's retention of information. Survival-relevant (fruit toxicity)…

The concept of natural selection serves as a foundation for understanding diverse biological concepts and has broad applicability to other domains. However, we know little about students' abilities to transfer (i.e. apply to a new context or use generatively) this concept and the relation between students' conceptual understanding and…

This biology investigation on "Pristipomoides filamentosus" larval development, survival, and aquaculture research was developed with three educational objectives: to provide high school students with (1) a scientific background on the biology and science of fisheries as well as overfishing, its consequences, and possible mitigations;…

Treating creationism as a controversial topic within the science and religion issue in the science classroom has been widely discussed in the recent literature. Some researchers have proposed that this topic is best addressed by focusing on sociocognitive conflict. To prepare new learning opportunities for this approach, it is necessary to know…

As education in England emerges from a major curriculum review (DfE 2013), the next few years will see significant changes in what is taught in schools and how this is assessed. As a core subject, under the current proposals, all students, from the beginning of primary school until age 16, will study science in some detail. Biology is an exciting,…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of explicit-embedded-reflective (EER) instruction in nature of science (NOS) understandings of ninth-grade advanced science students. This study was conducted with 71 students, who were divided into three groups, by using non-equivalent quasi-experimental design. In the treatment…

Scientific investigations play a vital role in teaching and learning the process of science. An investigative task that was developed for pre-university students is described here. The task involves extraction of an enzyme from a vegetable source and its detection by biochemical method. At the beginning of the experiment, a hypothesis is presented…

School science laboratory classes and hands-on public engagement activities share many common aims and objectives in terms of science learning and literacy. This article describes the development and evaluation of a microbiology public engagement activity, "The Good, the Bad and the Algae", from a school laboratory activity. The school…

Acquisition of scientific reasoning is one of the big challenges in education. A popular educational strategy advocated for acquiring deep knowledge is inquiry-based learning, which is driven by emerging "good questions". This study will address the question: "Which design features allow learners to refine questions while preserving…

The purpose of this study was a qualitative analysis of high school students' ideas about life cycle and life forms of the butterfly. For this purpose, open-ended questions and drawing methods were applied to 194 high school students from the ninth to eleventh grades and 14 to 16 years of age in Erzurum, Turkey. Students' drawings were categorised…

We present a case study of a lesson that incorporates high school students' interests in heredity alongside the requirements of the curriculum. This was done by collecting students' questions in advance and inserting them in strategic places in the biology curriculum, thus creating a "shadow curriculum". The idea underlying the lesson plan is not…