The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of models of programmed instruction and conventional (informative-illustrative) expository teaching in terms of fulfilling the aims of the course "Human anatomy and physiology" which is included in the physiology programme and designed for undergraduate students majoring in biology education at…

First-year students often feel discouraged, especially with courses that require complex thinking and involve establishing relations between different subjects such as biochemistry. It has been proposed that student-centred pedagogy can achieve motivation and improve learning. In this context, this case study reports the use of art as a strategy…

In the present study, we have explored an aspect of teachers' perceptions of biology diagrams. The research was performed in Turkey. The data were gathered from 50 (25 female, 25 male) teachers of primary and secondary schools and 34 (18 female, 16 male) academic staff of different universities in Turkey. Some of the participants are science…

We developed laboratory exercises using zebrafish ("Danio rerio") and nematodes ("Caenorhabditis elegans") for a sophomore-level Integrative Biology Laboratory course. Students examined live wildtype zebrafish at different stages of development and noted shifts occurring in response to "fgf8a" deficiency. Students were introduced to development in…

We examined selected situational emotions (interest, well-being and anxiety) experienced by 291 secondary school tenth graders during a hands-on gene technology lesson. Two different instruction groups (I-1, I-2) participated in the same teaching unit, in which four basic gene technology experiments were performed. Using a modified "constructivist…

The purpose of this study was to detect the extent to which contextual material of a unit on "The origin and evolution of living organisms" included in the high-school biology curriculum in Jordan affected students' acceptance of the theory of evolution. The participants of this study consisted of 107 tenth-grade students randomly drawn from three…

The present study was prompted by the introduction of evolution in the school curriculum and reports on student teachers' responses to a course in evolution at a South African university. The concepts framing the study are conceptual change, nature of science (NOS) and the science/religion conflict. The research may be described as a qualitative…

Providing undergraduate biology students with ecological knowledge and environmental awareness is critical for developing professionalism in sustainable development. In addition to the cognitive and psychomotor development, outdoor ecological exercises combining place-based education and experiential learning can stimulate the affective domain of…

Field work and field courses within undergraduate biology degrees have been under threat in recent years for multiple reasons and while there has been widespread support from learned societies, academic staff and students for the retention of field study, there has been little research to support the perceived value of field teaching within this…

The classroom-friendly ABO blood type kit was developed by combining advantages of modelling and a simulation laboratory to teach the topics of ABO blood types and blood transfusion. Teachers can easily simulate the agglutination reaction on a blood type testing plate in the classroom, and show the students how this reaction occurs by using the…

Degree-integrated placements (DIPs) are an important learning experience for many bioscience undergraduates. How these extended experiences will be affected by the proposed changes in higher education funding in the UK is uncertain. This paper explores one bioscience degree programme to investigate the contention that learning outcomes,…

Mating between closely related individuals often causes reduced fitness, which is termed "inbreeding depression". Inbreeding is, therefore, a threat towards the persistence of animal and plant populations. Here we present methods and results from a practical for high-school and first-year university students and discuss learning outcomes of the…

We describe part of an action-research programme in Spain which was based on metacognitive reflection. The participants were four science teachers in a secondary school during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years. During the study, they each analysed their own pupils' alternative ideas on photosynthesis and their teaching methods as recorded in…

The concepts of diffusion and osmosis cross the disciplinary boundaries of physics, chemistry and biology. They are important for understanding how biological systems function. Since future (pre-service) science teachers in Slovenia encounter both concepts at physics, chemistry and biology courses during their studies, we assessed the first-,…

Teaching collections are of great importance for science instruction at any level. There are several problems linked to the handling and curatorial management of this kind of collection. Among these is the relatively short life-span of specimens, due to the damage from continuous handling by students. Often the specimens used to replenish the…