Quantitative reasoning (QR) competencies are increasingly called for in the data rich and complex environment of STEM disciplines, including biology. Curricular reform efforts in QR have been directed at disseminating course design and pedagogy but less work has been directed at understanding what faculty at large view as crucial for student…

Nature of science (NOS) has become one of the major emphases in curriculum and assessment. This study explores "what" NOS is included and how this is achieved in the Hong Kong biology curriculum and 7-year high-stakes assessments. While conceptualizations of the official definition of NOS differ, this study employs the family resemblance…

Conrad Hal Waddington (1905--1975) was an English biologist who was especially interested in the big (metaphysical) questions of life. His thinking has become part of the foundation of modern systems biology. This article applies his thinking to middle-years school biology curricula (for ages 11-16), to see if their approach to epistemic questions…

In the context of what are often highly compartmentalised curriculum requirements, this article considers the cyclical nature of the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in the education system in relation to those questions that transcend individual subjects as set out in traditional curriculum divisions. It also considers the detrimental…

The phenomenon of industrial melanism (IM) became widely acknowledged as a well-documented example of natural selection largely as a result of H.B.D. Kettlewell's pioneering research on the subject in the early 1950s. It was quickly picked up by American biology textbooks starting in the early 1960s and became ubiquitous throughout the 1970s,…

Considering the impact of textbooks on learning, this study set out to assess representations of the nature of scientific knowledge in Turkish 9th grade biology textbooks. To this end, the ten most commonly used 9th grade biology textbooks were analyzed. A qualitative research approach was utilized and the textbooks were analyzed using…

This paper examines the feasibility of using historical case studies to contextualise the learning of the nature of science and technology in a biology lesson. Through exploring the historical development of vaccine technology, students were expected to understand the complexity of the relationships between technology and science beyond the…

A number of authors have recognized the importance of understanding the nature of science (NOS) for scientific literacy. Different instructional strategies such as decontextualized, hands-on inquiry, and history of science (HOS) activities have been proposed for teaching NOS. This article seeks to understand the contribution of HOS in enhancing…

The purpose of this study is to analyze 9th grade physics, chemistry and biology curriculums, which were implemented by the Ministry of Education since the academic year 2008-2009, in terms of scientific literacy themes and the balance of these themes and also to examine the quality of statements about objectives. Physics, chemistry, and biology…

Teachers often struggle with controversy when teaching biological evolution in American schools. Research indicates that curriculum with a nature of science (NOS) focus quells controversy (McComas 2004; Scharmann 2005; Staver 2003). This article presents a 5E NOS series that is a first step in a NOS curriculum that situates student understanding…

Understanding students' thinking about scientific theories is fundamental to the development of effective instructional strategies designed to foster scientific literacy. We conducted a study to determine student acceptance of important biological theories and to explore the relationships between their acceptance of scientific theories and their…

This paper reports on an attempt to investigate Turkish primary school students' interest in science by using their self-generated questions. We investigated students' interest in science by analyzing 1704 self-generated science-related questions. Among them, 826 questions were submitted to a popular science magazine called Science and Children.…

Studies of high-school science course sequences have been limited primarily to a small number of site-specific investigations comparing traditional science sequences (e.g., Biology-Chemistry-Physics: BCP) to various Physics First-influenced sequences (Physics-Chemistry-Biology: PCB). The present study summarizes a five-year program evaluation…

The need for a revised curriculum within the life sciences has been well-established. One strategy to improve student preparation in the life sciences is to redesign introductory courses like biology, chemistry, and physics so that they better reflect their disciplinary interdependence. We describe a medically relevant, context-based approach to…

Students need to reflect on the practice of science to fully understand the nature of science (NOS), which is an important component of scientific literacy. In this paper, the authors describe how to implement an explicit and reflective pedagogy in college science laboratories and share examples from their implementation in a multiple-section…