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Formative assessment is considered to be helpful in students' learning support and teaching design. Following Aufschnaiter's and Alonzo's framework, formative assessment practices of teachers can be subdivided into three practices: eliciting evidence, interpreting evidence and responding. Since students' conceptions are judged to be important for meaningful learning across disciplines, teachers are required to assess their students' conceptions. The focus of this article lies on the discussion of learning analytics for supporting the assessment of students' conceptions in class. The existing and potential contributions of learning analytics are discussed related to the named formative assessment framework in order to enhance the teachers' options to consider individual students' conceptions. We refer to findings from biology and computer science education on existing assessment tools and identify limitations and potentials with respect to the assessment of students' conceptions. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Students' conceptions are considered to be important for learning processes, but interpreting evidence for learning with respect to students' conceptions is challenging for teachers.Assessment tools have been developed in different educational domains for teaching practice.Techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning have been applied for automated assessment of specific aspects of learning.What does the paper add Findings on existing assessment tools from two educational domains are summarised and limitations with respect to assessment of students' conceptions are identified.Relevent data that needs to be analysed for insights into students' conceptions is identified from an educational perspective.Potential contributions of learning analytics to support the challenging task to elicit students' conceptions are discussed.Implications for practice and/or policy Learning analytics can enhance the eliciting of students' conceptions.Based on the analysis of existing works, further exploration and developments of analysis techniques for unstructured text and multimodal data are desirable to support the eliciting of students' conceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the use of term recall and recognition tools for learning terminology and concepts in a senior biology classroom. The paper responded to a set of research questions from a teacher researcher perspective, making use of data collected from the teacher researcher's classrooms over several years, based on the implementation of two teaching strategies. Findings indicated that while looking for a teaching procedure to support a specific purpose may seem a simple task, in reality it was a complex task. However, the complexity lead to a greater awareness of the teacher researcher's teaching practice and inspiration to develop ideas for new and enhanced practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper we report on our evaluation of the impact of a flipped classroom approach on the learning experience of students undertaking an undergraduate biology course. The flipped sessions comprised pre-recorded lectures, online quizzes and in-class group activities in the course design. The success of the approach was evaluated on the basis of perceptions held by the course coordinator and students on how the new course design influenced the student learning experience. Data were collected through a student questionnaire and structured interviews with the course coordinator. Overall, the students reported a high degree of satisfaction with some elements of the flipped approach. However, some activities were less well regarded, with concerns identified by the course coordinator and students. A key finding was that elements from the model for student learning design presented in this article were correlated with student confidence, motivation and engagement. It was concluded that refinements of components of the flipped design, such as the pre-recorded lectures and the structure of the in-class sessions, may further enhance the student learning experience in this course. Highlights • Students benefit from the flipped classroom experience when learning designs are planned and effectively aligned. • The design influences the level of student satisfaction and the extent of engagement in in-class activities. • Student satisfaction with their learning experience is associated with student motivation, confidence and engagement. • Identifying specific aspects of the learning experience for improvement gives course coordinators a practical focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the challenges of transitioning a hands-on and interactive Honors Reproduction course to an online format during the Covid-19 pandemic. Topics include learning outcomes range from implementation of animal reproductive management strategies to effective communication skills; physiological principles of reproductive processes in farm species; and fundamental concepts about the physiology and endocrinology of reproduction in farm animals.

In this essay I elaborate on three ideas that emerged from reading the work of Sylvie Barma. These points are in response to curriculum reform and the use of activity theory: (a) curriculum reform as a public policy; (b) a reflection about the process followed by teacher implementation of that reform in a biology classroom; and (c) the sense of experience as an objective anchored in activity theory. This commentary deals with several entanglements of science teaching and learning where I am also able to address some of my own queries in the use of activity theory in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Betty’s Brain is a computer-based learning environment that capitalizes on the social aspects of learning. In Betty’s Brain, students instruct a character called a Teachable Agent (TA) which can reason based on how it is taught. Two studies demonstrate the protégé effect: students make greater effort to learn for their TAs than they do for themselves. The first study involved 8th-grade students learning biology. Although all students worked with the same Betty’s Brain software, students in the TA condition believed they were teaching their TAs, while in another condition, they believed they were learning for themselves. TA students spent more time on learning activities (e.g., reading) and also learned more. These beneficial effects were most pronounced for lower achieving children. The second study used a verbal protocol with 5th-grade students to determine the possible causes of the protégé effect. As before, students learned either for their TAs or for themselves. Like study 1, students in the TA condition spent more time on learning activities. These children treated their TAs socially by attributing mental states and responsibility to them. They were also more likely to acknowledge errors by displaying negative affect and making attributions for the causes of failures. Perhaps having a TA invokes a sense of responsibility that motivates learning, provides an environment in which knowledge can be improved through revision, and protects students’ egos from the psychological ramifications of failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that investigates teachers' perceptions of the effects of a scientific literary course on subsequent learning in biology. In this study, five teachers were interviewed as to their perceptions of the effect of an intervention to teach scientific literacy on learning in subsequent biology courses. The sample consisted of 450 students who had a literacy course in ninth grade and had completed tenth-grade biology. The biology teachers concluded that the literacy course did have an effect on students' subsequent ability to learn biology.

The article presents a study that investigates the attainment of meaning learning of concepts in genetics and ecology to man's understanding of himself and his environment using the concept-mapping technique. In this study, the efficacy of the concept-mapping strategy was tried out with 138 predegree biology students. Results indicate that the 63 students in the experimental group who employed the concept-mapping technique performed significantly better on the test of meaningful learning in genetics.