The central importance of evolution to all biological sciences is recognised by many authors. Despite this scientific consensus, the theory of evolution is commonly presented as one discrete topic among many in the biology curriculum. Possible reasons for this scenario include discomfort with the content, ideological opposition and teachers'…

This high school-level, place-based, inquiry-driven laboratory module familiarises students with techniques used to analyse animal behaviour while facilitating the development of the observational skills highlighted by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Throughout the module, students observe, quantify, and discuss local invertebrate…

We conducted a small pilot study examining the opinions of school teachers across five Welsh primary schools on the possibility of introducing grand challenges (such as antibacterial resistance), and concepts to help solve such challenges (such as the use of living maggots to help treat infected wounds) to pupils at a young age. Our…

Institution-crippling earthquakes limited teaching contact hours and range of teaching environments. New ways became needed to achieve the same learning outcomes in less time. Following that disaster, new methods based on active and test-enhanced learning were introduced into two undergraduate molecular biology courses. The courses had a mixture…

Regulation is a key concept for understanding the dynamics of metabolism in bacteria. This report outlines a simple laboratory experiment aimed at studying a key form of regulation in bacterial metabolism, exemplifying how microbes switch the flux of carbon towards alternative metabolic fates as a function of nutrient availability and according to…

Knowledge about research in medical and allied health fields is an integral part of professional development in patient care practice. However, completion of an exclusive research degree is not always feasible for clinicians. In such a scenario, short interactive educational sessions may serve to effectively enhance research knowledge in…

This paper addresses an explorative case study on Spanish primary pre-service teachers' (PSTs) emotions about, and their interest in, insects. The study is part of a teachers' training programme on insects and the problem of the decline in pollinators conducted at the University of Santiago de Compostela, using scientific practice-based learning…

The advancement of breakthrough concepts in science and their implementation in society can only be achieved by starting early with the education of new generations of scientists. The concept of 'Replacement, Reduction and Refinement' (the 3Rs) in regards to animal use was first described by Russell and Burch in 1959. The 3Rs have nowadays a…

This research aims to analyse the progression of 13-14 year-old students' ideas regarding the concept of energy transfer by means of heat in three biological mechanisms of thermal regulation. The outputs of 270 students, grouped in 77 cooperative groups, are analysed by comparing their explanations before and after conducting an experimental…

This research investigates students' learning about the electron transport chain (ETC) process in photosynthesis by watching a video followed by playing a serious board game--"Electron Chute"--that models ETC. The learning objectives targeted enriching a mental model that students could use to explain the causal relationship of the ETC…

This study aims to compare the influences of traditional lectures (TL) with a flipped classroom (FC). Two consecutive classes of students from a laboratory medicine speciality learned medical molecular biology through the flipped or nonflipped (TL) approach with online microlectures. We inspected examination scores, learning experiences and…

Feedback loop reasoning is an essential part of systems thinking, which includes the analysis and description of system behaviour and regulative measures. In feedback loops, every change can simultaneously represent a cause and an effect. Research on reasoning in feedback loops is limited to investigating students' existing mental models. This…

Enzymes are organic molecules known for their catalytic nature because they accelerate metabolic reactions in organisms. The study of enzyme functions and modes of action is essential to understand Biochemistry. This study aimed to analyse the acetylcholinesterase enzymatic activity, as well as the enzymatic inhibition mechanism in practical…

Biomimicry is a useful method to develop students' skills, such as design and systems thinking, particularly when complemented with inquiry-based learning. The research seeks to uncover how students engage in the biomimicry process and what types of designs they produce to reveal insights that could assist educators in teaching biomimicry. A study…

Although the creation in 2018 of a pair of genome-edited HIV-resistant twins in China caused widespread condemnation, we question whether the law and ethics relevant to such cases are dealt with adequately in university programmes. Biology educators are entrusted with upholding the discipline's standards, but are they doing enough to guide…