This study involved the development and application of a two-tier diagnostic test for measuring students' understanding of cell division and reproduction. The instrument development procedure had three general steps: defining the content boundaries of the test, collecting information on students' misconceptions, and instrument development.…

HIV/AIDS education should empower students to create knowledge using everyday life experiences. Such knowledge should then be used to construe experience and resolve social problems such as risk behaviour that leads to infection. In South Africa, attempts to reduce the spread of HIV include incorporating HIV/AIDS education in the biology…

This study attempted to examine students' learning outcomes and their learning experiences through playing a Serious Educational Game. A mixed-method research design was employed collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. A total of 98 middle-school students ranging from sixth to eighth grades participated through paper-and-pencil…

A partnership was formed between King Edward VI School Morpeth (UK) and the pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharp and Dohme within the programme of "Joint Responsibility" operated by the Dove Marine Laboratory (Newcastle University, UK). Pupils surveyed an ecologically important coastal area in northeast England and made 15 recommendations for its…

This paper presents one of the ways in which the ideas of active learning, problem solving, using history of science, probing students' ideas and other approaches can be implemented to bring about meaningful learning. The example is taken from the plant chemistry and is suitable for the lower secondary level. In this paper we wanted to show how,…

A large-scale paper-and-pencil assessment of the attainment targets of environmental studies with a focus on the subject area nature was held in primary education in Flanders (Belgium). The tests on different subfields of nature, i.e. the human body, healthcare, organisms, ecosystems, environmental care and non-living nature, were administered to…

An enduring focus in education on how scientists formulate experiments and "do science" in the laboratory has excluded a vital element of scientific practice: the creative and imaginative thinking that generates models and testable hypotheses. In this case study, final-year biomedical sciences university students were invited to create and justify…

Among potential topics in the new science of biodiversity, understanding the characteristics and impact of invasive birds is an attractive subject to include as part of junior high school biology studies. Birds are aesthetic and raise curiosity. Curiosity about birds, combined with field observations, can stimulate students to ask authentic…

Understanding evolutionary mechanisms is fundamental to a balanced biological education, yet practical demonstrations are rarely considered. In this paper we describe a bacterial liquid microcosm which can be used to demonstrate aspects of evolution, namely adaptive radiation, niche colonisation and competitive fitness. In microcosms inoculated…

The ability to design appropriate experiments in order to interrogate a research question is an important skill for any scientist. The present article describes an interactive lecture-based activity centred around a comparison of two contrasting approaches to investigation of the question "Can you smell fear?" A poorly designed experiment (a video…

Field experiments are at the core of ecology, yet rarely find their way into education, probably due to a combination of technical challenges and risks associated with fieldwork. This may compromise student education and perception of the subject, making interesting, readily manageable experiments extremely important. We describe how the daily…

This article describes a survey conducted by 20 university students in Guangzhou, China since January 2008 on the live turtle trade in markets. Lectures on the Asian turtle conservation problem, turtle identification skills and survey techniques were given to the students before on-site surveys. After guided observation with teachers, students…

Different genres of scientific articles have begun to diffuse into science curricula. Among them, adapted primary literature (APL) retains the characteristics of scientific research articles, while adapting their contents to the knowledge level of students in the 11th to 12th grades. We present three models for the teaching and learning of the…

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study investigates and discusses neurological explanations for, and the educational implications of, the neural network activations involved in hypothesis-generating and hypothesis-understanding for biology education. Two sets of task paradigms about biological phenomena were designed:…

In this study, we developed an educational programme using soil seed banks to promote ecological literacy among primary school-aged children. The programme consisted of seven student activities, including sampling and setting soil seed banks around the school, watering, identifying seedlings, and making observations about the plants and their…