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The results of examinations taken by Maltese post-secondary students learning Advanced level Biology at the end of their first year is crucial in the advancement of their careers. The objective of the study was to statistically analyse the examination scores and calculate the difficulty index of the entire paper and individual items in paper 1 over the period 2014-2018. Controlling or balancing the item difficulty of an examination improves its validity. Scores were slightly positively skewed in three out of the five years studied, showing that students attained more low scores than high ones. A score in the region of 50% was attained by the majority of students in all years studied and scores never exceeded 85%. The mean score for all years was 49±11.58% and the range of scores, exceeded 61 in all years investigated. This indicates that the students investigated form a heterogeneous group. Results show that items were restricted in the level of difficulty: none were 'easy'. This study showed that paper setters consistently designed examination questions of an overall 'moderate' level of difficulty (0.40) which is below the optimal value of 0.50. The value of this study is that future examinations can be improved when items from past papers with known difficulty index are reused. Another value of this investigation is that close examination of items reveals which questions were most difficult, thus indicating a concept that needs to be taught more thoroughly as well as provides an opportunity to identify common misconceptions among students. Another result of this study is that students encountered difficulties when answering questions at various levels of cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that statistical analysis and evaluation of examination results are crucial to improve teaching quality. Evaluation of such results is important to assess students' performance. This study is based on examination results obtained by first-year Biology Advanced level students attending a public institution over a five-year period, 2014-2018. The results indicate that the distribution of examination scores approximate to normal distribution with averages varying from 30±13.47% and 43±14.31%. The difficulty level is consistent across the years irrespective of there being no guidelines for tutors when designing questions. In all years investigated, the difficulty index of the whole paper indicated that questions were 'moderate', but below the optimal value of 0.50. Comprehensions offered the least level of difficulty while students found the unstructured essay type the most difficult. The most difficult unstructured essays dealt with the Ecology section of the syllabus. Results from this study, show the need for tutors to include questions of varying difficulty levels when constructing the final examination as a tentative step in improving the percentage of passes in the end-of year examinations. It is recommended to include the difficulty index in final examination reports besides comments about each item. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents partial findings from a larger mixed methods case study that explored a high school biology teaching team's pedagogical approaches to engaging with electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) in face-to-face, online, and hybrid teaching environments during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a growing body of literature on electronic textbooks, most researchers have used quantitative methods to understand users' implementation of and satisfaction with this technology, and have done so in higher education settings. Largely absent from the literature are accounts of how different affordances associated with e-textbooks are employed as pedagogical tools in general and their use in secondary schools more specifically. Conducted within the framework of cultural-historical activity theory, the project captured evidence of the tensions associated with three cycles with regard to the teachers' use of the e-textbook as classes moved from one learning environment to another. Data collection was conducted over an eleven month period that spanned two school years; data were generated through close- and open-ended questionnaires as well as document analyses. Two of the three documents occurred naturally in different phases of the teaching process while the third provided the historical context out of which one of the others developed and the social context in which it had been situated. The preliminary findings presented in this paper suggest that technical competence and content knowledge do not guarantee pedagogical prowess with education technologies, even those that teachers have used for years, as was the case in this study. The findings further suggest that there is a need for robust pedagogical practices that support the use of e-textbooks and their tools beyond replicating the use of physical textbooks. Such practices did not develop as a result of familiarity with the e-textbook or changes to the environment that positioned the e-textbook for a more prominent role, suggesting a need for specialised training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study is to establish how research on the issue of systems thinking in biology education has progressed over the last ten years, from 2011 to 2020. The research method combines qualitative research with a review of the literature as we know as literature review. Data was gathered by searching Scopus journals for 29 citation publications published between 2011 and 2020. VOSviewer were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that 29 publications published articles on systems thinking in biology education from 2011 to 2020. The articles reviewed for this study were only collected from the Scopus database, therefore they did not have similar data. As a result, there are some research gaps in biology education to be study in future about systems thinking. For further results, study must employ a comparative analytical strategy that includes the Scopus database and the Web of Sciences (WoS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who are aware of their cognition can control and show better performance than students who are not metacognition that includes cognition about how to design the assessment to measure understanding of concepts or student's higher order thinking skill before and after learning in the class. This paper describes student's metacognitive awareness when designing HOTS questions based on Bloom's taxonomy revised. This study involved 56 undergraduate students in the Biology Education Program at UIN Ar-raniry. The students' metacognitive awareness in designing HOTS questions was measured by Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), the rubric was utilized and the task of designing HOTS questions was collected to measure student's skill in designing HOTS questions. Then, conducted semi structured interviews to collect rich qualitative data from students who get a low and high grade. The result showed that many students not only lack metacognition, limited knowledge of metacognitive regulation, or limited ability to implement them but also lack knowledge of designing HOTS questions which can impact their quality questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the third in a series of three describing a controlled study “Transfer of scientific abilities”. The study was conducted in a large-enrollment introductory physics course taught via Investigative Science Learning Environment. Its goal was to find whether designing their own experiments in labs affects students' approaches to experimental problem solving in new areas of physics and in biology and their learning of physics concepts. The part of the project presented in this paper involves students in the experimental and control groups solving a biology-related problem that required designing an experiment and evaluating the findings. We found that students who were in the sections where they had to design their own experiments during the semester were able to transfer the abilities they acquired in physics laboratories to solve a novel biology problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary methods create connections between traditionally distinct disciplines such as sciences, social studies, arts, or languages. This paper presents the experience of team-teaching Bioinformatics by faculty from Computing Science (MK) and Biological Sciences (JU) in a Computing Science undergraduate course, "Introduction to Biomedical Informatics." The main purpose, to involve students, with little or no biological background, in actual research projects related to Biology and Medicine, was accomplished by hands-on exercises and assignments using real data from a medical clinic, and real DNA and RNA data from the sequencing of genes related to seed dispersal of a parasitic plant, Dwarf Mistletoe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the experiment settings and the evaluation of gamifying a biology class using the digital learning game platform Tourney (Korkut et al., 2014) are presented. This platform, retitled as BioTourney and equipped with biology-related contents, is implemented as a self-learning assessment tool in the biology curriculum of 10th and 11th grade of a secondary school (age group: 15-17). It provides an e-learning game environment for self-paced learning based on the ability to overcome increasingly difficult levels of the biology learning curriculum. As a major gamification aspect, mastering individual levels was rewarded through feelings of achievement. Tourney itself has been developed at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland in 2014 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from business/economics, design, computer science, applied psychology and pedagogics. The project continues to develop solutions for various application areas in higher education. Besides state-of-the-art design and game technology, Tourney comprises gamified elements of learning in order to enhance learning outcomes and knowledge transfer. With the content-independent framework structure, teachers can create customized challenges for students by choosing and assembling modular elements associated with course-relevant learning materials. BioTourney has been released for application in the classroom after thoughtful preparation and careful testing with beta users outside the school. The experiment was carried out in October 2015 with a limited number of pupils (N=32) who have never played the game before. Game play data from the experiment have been collected and analyzed with regards to user knowledge and user interactions with the game. Learning engagement and the players’ perception of learning progress were assessed through an online survey. Although the feedback has indicated moderate enjoyment in playing BioTourney, the majority of pupils have implied that they have learned something. Gameplay data analysis and player feedback suggest that BioTourney is an example where game-based learning has made a positive, measurable impact and supported personalized learning. The paper presents the research setup, the BioTourney tool as well as the test environment, and discusses the benefits and future adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to investigate the existing ideas of nature of science (NOS) teaching in Thailand biology classroom. The study reported the existing ideas of nature of science (NOS) teaching of one biology teacher Mrs. Mali who had been teaching for 6 years at in a school in Khon Kaen city. Methodology regarded interpretive paradigm. Tools of interpretation included 2 months of classroom observation, interviewing, and questionnaire of NOS. The findings revealed Mali held good understanding of the nature of science in the aspect of the use of evidence, the aspect of knowledge inquiry through different observation and deduction, the aspect of creativity and imagination influencing science knowledge inquiry, and the aspect of changeable scientific knowledge. Her biology teaching indicated that she used both the deficient nature of science approach and the implicit nature of science approach. The implicit nature of science approach was applied mostly in 7 periods and only 2 periods were arranged using the deficient nature of science approach. The paper has implication for professional development and pre-service program on NOS teaching in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argumentation skill is an essential skill needed in students, and one of the competencies in scientific literacy. Through arguing on socioscientific issues, students may gain deeper conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research is to examine the efficacy of a socioscientific issues-based instruction compared with an inquirybased instruction. This is to determine which one is better in promoting 10th grade students' argumentation ability and biology concepts of digestive system and cellular respiration. The forty 10th grade students included in this study were from two mathematics-science program classes in a medium-sized secondary school located in a suburb of Buriram province, Thailand. The research utilizes a quasi-experimental design; pre-test post-test control group design. We developed and implemented 4 lesson plans for both socioscientific issues-based instruction and inquiry-based instruction. Ten weeks were used to collect the data. A paper-based questionnaire and informal interviews were designed to test students' argumentation ability, and the two-tier multiple-choice test was designed to test their biology concepts. This research explore qualitatively and quantitatively students' argumentation abilities and biology concepts, using arithmetic mean, mean of percentage, standard deviation and t-test. Results show that there is no significant difference between the two group regarding mean scores of the argumentation ability. However, there is significant difference between the two groups regarding mean scores of the biology concepts. This suggests that socioscientific issues-based instruction could be used to improve students' biology concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the perceptions of sixth-form students towards the use of Spore™—a commercial electronic game— in their biology lessons. Findings of a focus group showed that the students welcomed the use of Spore™ as a medium of deep learning, although they regarded this as more beneficial to younger pupils. Two themes were found in their views on how the game relates to biology studies, which are the concepts of evolution and of a selective framework. The paper presents a comparison between the perceived advantages of game-based learning and the normal learning approach and how the students see teachers who use technology in teaching. The paper discusses the knowledge and skills associated with deep learning which were demonstrated by the students in the discussion. A gap was identified between the perceived usefulness of Spore™ in learning about the concept of evolution in biology and the possible desired learning outcomes. The paper considers the proposition that bridging this gap could be a form of deep learning-an approach that could develop meta-learning skills in biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life-based learning (LBL) offers new sight to conduct an effective way to engage with the 21st century education. As a pioneer of innovative learning university, Universitas Negeri Malang has been developing a new curriculum named Curriculum 2018 which is underpinned by life-based learning approach. This paper is a preliminary attempt to examine the perspective of students in biology education program who are in the twofold condition which is as a curriculum target and as a curriculum developer. In order to investigate the students’ perception on LBL, we employed students’ reflective essays about LBL approach which has been explicitly implemented in the innovation biology classroom module. In our replications, there are four elicited aspects of students as a curriculum target namely the students’ awareness, attitude, development and impact of LBL implementation. In same way, the students’ point of view as the further developer of LBL obtained four aspects that included interest, motivation and challenge to implement the LBL in their future classroom setting. The implication of our inquiry is to improve the enactment of current curriculum and to promote the implementation of LBL in the higher education or school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

REMAD COCOPER (REading, (Mind or Concept) Prepping, Discussing, Collaborating, COoperative-learning, Presenting, Elaborating, and Reflecting) is a learning strategy developed to develop the capabilities of prospective student educators. Development of REMAD COCOPER learning strategies using the ADDIE development model. The Limited trial is conducted in the odd semester of the 2016/2017 school year and extensive trial conducted in 2017/2018 for S2 Biology Education students. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of the Focus Group Discussion conducted to improve the REMAD COCOPER learning strategy. Qualitative descriptive method is used to describe the results of the implementation of Focus Group Discussion. Focus Group Discussion was held on 1 and 2 October 2018 attended by 2 Biology Education Master Students, 5 Biology Education Doctoral Students, and 12 lecturers in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry Education at Malang State University. The results of the Focus Group Discussion is the REMAD COCOPER learning strategy supports to developing the capabilities of pre-service biology teacher students, developing competencies for acting in the 21st century, developing learning based on Life-Based Learning, can be implemented by lectures for preservice biology teacher students, and support social system processes, including (1) cooperation, (2) equality, and (3) intellectual freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the second in the series of three describing a controlled study “Transfer of scientific abilities”. The study was conducted in a large-enrollment introductory physics course taught via Investigative Science Learning Environment. Its goal was to find whether designing their own experiments in labs affects students' approaches to experimental problem solving in new areas of physics and in biology, and their learning of physics concepts. This paper reports on the part of the study that assesses student work while solving an experimental problem in a physics content area not studied in class. For a quantitative evaluation of students' abilities, we used scientific abilities rubrics. We studied the students' lab reports and answers to non-traditional exam problems related to the lab. We evaluated their performance and compared it with the performance of a control group that had the same course but enrolled in non-design labs instead of design labs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a research agenda to inform renovating the introductory physics course commonly taught to life science majors. The theoretical framework of the renovation is the cognitive apprenticeship model, in which learning occurs most effectively in an environment of expert practices so that students can articulate why their learning matters. This model is supported by studies of transfer that suggest for students to successfully apply physics to another field, they need practice making such applications. Guided by this theoretical framework, we have begun to restructure our introductory physics courses for these students around biologically rich contexts - examples in which fundamental physics plays a significant role in understanding a biological system - to make explicit the value of physics to the life sciences. This requires restructuring the course content to reflect the topics most relevant to biology. In this paper we describe our approach to this course, identify research directions addressing (1) the role of biological context in learning for these students and (2) issues in implementing such a course for physics faculty, and summarize preliminary results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Maryland (UMD) Biology Education and Physics Education Research Groups are investigating students' views on the role of physics in introductory biology courses. This paper presents data from an introductory course that addresses the fundamental principles of organismal biology and that incorporates several topics directly related to physics, including thermodynamics, diffusion, and fluid flow. We examine how the instructors use mathematics and physics in this introductory biology course and look at two students' responses to this use. Our preliminary observations are intended to start a discussion about the epistemological issues resulting from the integration of the science disciplines and to motivate the need for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gender gap in high school Physics course-taking remains quite impervious to change, even in the midst of progress towards equity in math course-taking. Part of the explanation lies in the larger scope of science, encompassing both the biological and physical sciences. Prior research on the greater relative representation of women in the biological sciences in college and the labor force suggests that for a variety of reasons, this area is more appealing to women. This paper explores whether this gendered pattern is manifest in high school science course-taking, such that there is a higher representation of female students in Biology II courses compared to Physics. Analyses using data from NELS 1988-2000 confirm this trend, and reveal that when considering Biology II and Physics together into a broader category of advanced science, the gender gap disappears. Additionally, there is a strong link between taking Biology II in high school and declaring a biological science major in college. The strength of this relationship is of the same magnitude as the link between taking Physics in high school and declaring a physical science major. Thus, Biology II serves as an important but less acknowledged mechanism for retaining female students in a science educational trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid rise of tablet education provides an opportunity to promote science learning through science apps. These apps can provide important benefits for science students by: . Developing understandings of complex and dynamic systems, . Making the invisible visible through dynamic visual representations, . Developing student inquiry skills through active learning, . Motivating students to explore and learn science, and . Assessing student content knowledge and inquiry skills. The paper will demonstrate these benefits with specific examples from Experience Science apps in physics, chemistry and biology. For information on apps visit https://www.facebook.com/ExperienceScience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality and augmented reality are gradually increasing their influence in education. A plethora of three-dimensional environments including educational content are created. However, most of them are used just as additional multimedia material to traditional coursed and just a few are conceived as independent, standalone learning environments, including everything from theoretical presentation of a subject, to practice, experiments and evaluation. In this paper we present a virtual reality environment for teaching basic biology concepts in a standalone manner and we compare its performance with traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argumentation has an important role to assist students in developing, developing, and validating scientific knowledge. The purpose of this study is to analyze the profile of students' argumentation skills through socioscientific issue discourse in biology learning. This study also analyzes the learning that has been done by biology lecturers to provide alternative innovative learning designs. This research method is quantitative and qualitative to calculate and analyze argumentation skills and describe innovative learning alternatives to empower argumentation. The research samples were students and lecturers of biology education which were taken randomly from the population of students and lecturers of biology education in the residency of Surakarta. The data of argumentation was obtained with an instrument in the form of essay questions that were opened concerning the TAP, namely claim, evidence, warrant, backing, and qualifier. While the learning data was obtained from written interviews with biology lecturers. The data were analyzed by percentage description for skill argumentation and qualitative description for learning data. The results showed that the aspects of claims, evidence, supporters, and qualifications were categorized as sufficient, while aspects of guarantees and disclaimers were categorized as poor. The poor argument was caused by the learning carried out that had not fully developed the argumentation. Argument development can be done by designing innovative learning with inquiry and socio-scientific issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We created a CURE project that utilizes antlions, which are also sometimes referred to as doodle bugs. Antlions are insects in the Family Myrmeleontidae and are best known for the fierce prey-capturing behavior exhibited by their larvae. The main goal of the following proposal is to create a CURE project that utilizes antlions in the introductory BIOL 1108K course to help increase student engagement. In this project, we introduced BIOL 1108 students to the biology and behavior of antlions. The specific focus of the project initially was the predatory behaviors and feeding habits of the antlion larvae. Students in each class were divided into groups of three or four to complete the initial project, after which the students developed a second experiment of their own design. We compared survey data covering basic biology, experimental design, and antlion biology between three BIOL 1108 sections that used antlions and two sections that conducted corn growth experiments (control groups). BIOL 1108K has three STEM skills assigned to it (data analysis, effective communication, ability to apply evolutionary concepts). Thus, during this research project, students gathered raw data in their experiments and then used t-tests and ANOVA to compare, contrast, and interpret data. Students also practiced their "effective communication" by writing a scientific paper. Evolutionary concepts will be explored, discussing the ecology and evolutionary principles behind the predatory tactics of the antlion larvae. While antlions are generally easy to work with, observing predatory behavior is always challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conserving the earth cannot be done by one generation, but it requires the next generation to protect the earth in a sustainable manner. Agent of change are needed to create the next environmentalists. Biology education students who are a prospective teacher potential to create a generation that loves the environment. The earth hour is a global movement that campaigns for energy savings. This movement also provide environmental education to the community. This research is a quantitative descriptive study that aims to see the popularity of earth hour movement and the perspective of biology education students of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati on these movement. The results showed that 93% of biology education students knew this movement, but only few knew more about this global movement. Even so, they are optimistic that this movement can have a positive impact on the earth. Based on these results, we can conclude that the earth hour movement is highly popular among biology education students. We hope that the popularity of the earth hour movement will open their way of thinking to understand environmental issues by taking concrete steps to make energy-saving movements that are born from the form of conscious thinking. Thus, together we are optimistic that we will be able to face the challenges of global warming that hit the earth. Biology education students with environmental awareness are at the forefront of creating a generation that is wise to the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in student performance task of the plant anatomy structure model product between classes using Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and PjBL Science-Technology-Religion-Engineering-Arts-Mathematics (PjBL-STREAM) integrated approach. This research was conducted using Mixed Methods with Embedded Design. Purposive sampling was done on 39 students in the IV-A semester as PjBL (regular) class. While 38 students in semester IV-C as the PjBL-STREAM (intervention) class. Each student designs and develops one of the structural models of plant anatomy, namely roots, stems, or leaves. The selection to determine the structure model for each student was carried out using a random sampling technique by drawing without repetition. Students are given performance tasks. The research instrument is a rubric with a 0-4 based on specific criteria, photo records, videos, and field notes. Data analysis was done to calculate the percentage of achievement on specific criteria and the Mann-Whitney test. The "excellent" criteria were achieved in the intervention class, reaching 13.16% in all plant anatomy structure models. The regular class showed the highest achievement percentage of 12.82%, categorized as "excellent", in the leaf anatomical structure model. The Mann-Whitney test shows the results of 0.000<0.05, which means that there is a significant difference in the results of the performance task of student products between the intervention class and the regular class. The results of the performance task of the Plant Anatomy structure model product in the intervention class were found to reach higher achievement than the regular class. Therefore, the PjBL-STREAM approach influences the performance task product of Biology Education students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific argumentation skills are considered as a major component to support science education in 21st century skills. The preservice biology teacher needs to be empowered in their argumentation skills to challenges global competition. The intent of this case study is to propose an analytical framework of scaffolding strategy to enhance the quality and quantity of scientific argumentations skills (SAS) in biology cased-based learning (BCBL) through online learning environment. This study was administered to 20 preservice biology teachers in Department of Biology Education. The quality of argument is determined by Toulmin Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Erduran's analytical framework. The results of this study indicate that the quantity of argumentation components of pre-service biology teachers is still low. The quality of their skills in providing data, guarantees and support for claims is also still low. The findings of this study can contribute to determine the type of scaffolding can be provided in the distance learning course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, distance learning appears to be an opportunity for students who cannot attend classes in person for various reasons. The connection of information and communication technologies and especially the Internet with education provides new opportunities not only for teachers, but also for students. The work is devoted to the issue of comparing the advantages and disadvantages of distance and face-to-face education from the point of view of students of the second grade of elementary school, to start distance and face-to-face education in practice in biology classes in the 7th grade of elementary school and to compare the results in education. Research has pointed to various factors influencing distance and face-to-face education. Although the results of the knowledge tests pointed to differences in knowledge, the statistical evaluation of the hypotheses that there are better educational results in the classroom with face-to-face education than in the classroom with distance education did not confirm and there is no statistically significant difference in education (p = 0.217). Based on these findings, recommendations were made for pedagogical practice in connection with distance and face-to-face education, taking into account the social and economic conditions of students, using information and communication tools and software interfaces intended for education, encouraging communication between students and teachers, and relieving the burden on parents. from the supervision of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy concepts are fundamental across the sciences, yet these concepts can be fragmented along disciplinary boundaries, rather than integrated into a coherent whole. To teach physics effectively to biology students, we need to understand students' disciplinary perspectives. We present interview data from an undergraduate student who displays multiple stances towards the concept of energy. At times he views energy in macroscopic contexts as a separate entity from energy in microscopic (particularly biological) contexts, while at other times he uses macroscopic physics phenomena as productive analogies for understanding energy in the microscopic biological context, and he reasons about energy transformations between the microscopic and macroscopic scales. This case study displays preliminary evidence for the context dependence of students' ability to translate energy concepts across scientific disciplines. This points to challenges that must be taken into account in developing curricula for biology students that integrate physics and biology concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better communication about science for a more general audience can promote wider engagement, trust, and understanding of science, particularly when it comes to culturally controversial science topics (e.g., vaccines, climate change, and evolution) which may be more difficult to discuss. Undergraduate students span a wide diversity of identities and career paths, so they play an important role as communicators within their various communities, some of which may have negative attitudes toward science. Further, few undergraduate students are receiving instruction on effective science communication. Thus, they feel unprepared to engage in conversations about controversial science topics. The goal of this study is to develop and test a standard for succinctly teaching science communication to undergraduate students with the hopes of helping them to engage in impactful dialogue with their peers and family. We implemented science communication instruction into an introductory biology course where students were introduced to both effective and ineffective communication strategies and given examples of each. Finally, we interviewed students to see how instruction impacted their experiences in communicating about controversial science topics. Interviews (n=6, with at least 20 more to come in the Spring) were coded by inductive thematic analysis. Based on our current analysis, three major themes arise. First, we noticed that most students avoided discussing controversial science topics with people who did not agree with them prior to receiving instruction. Many of the students also used more effective communication strategies in their conversations following instruction. Finally, students recognize that science communication skills can be beneficial within their future occupations. These preliminary findings suggest that science communication instruction may be valuable for undergraduate students and help them to more effectively communicate about science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to determine the effect of self-efficacy, learning activities, and learning independence on biology learning achievement. This type of research is ex-post facto, namely causality which is designed to explain the existence of a causal relationship between variables. The population in this study was 603 high school students in Namlea Regency. The sample in this study amounted to 90 students. The data analysis technique used simple linear regression analysis. The results of the analysis show that self-efficacy has a positive and significant effect on the biology learning achievement of class X SMA Negeri in Namlea District. Judging from the results of simple linear regression calculations, it can be seen that the magnitude of the effect is 0.271, and the R value is 0.036. So it can be seen that the relative contribution of the effect of self-efficacy on learning achievement is 36.0%, while 64% is influenced by other variables not examined in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the society construes the current era as a destructive century, the adaptability, flexibility and innovation are widely deliberated becoming the key points to survive from life challenges. Creativity is one of four core skills that is conceived be able to foster those three features. Variety strategies and approaches have been developed to prompt this skill in the classroom context. This qualitative study analyses the reflection of pre-service biology teachers on their own creativity and their foresight as a future teacher to promote creativity in their classroom further. To examine those two perceptions, we employed the modelling strategy using teaching visible thinking approach integrated with the biology context. Afterwards, the students reflected their experience about bearing with creativity’s four indicators – fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality- and the way to promote them on their reflective essay. They were 25 students participated in this study within three learning cycles setting. The majority of participants showed the positive sentiment about the strategy. The other interesting findings conveyed that the students found themselves having difficulties in articulating the fluency and elaboration. Furthermore, they also showed the eagerness to learn more about the teaching strategy to be implemented in their future classroom setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted on students of the Biology Education Masters program, Postgraduate Program, who contracted Advanced Genetics courses in odd semester 201-2019. This study aims to improve critical thinking skills and efforts to minimize genetic misconceptions in students through the application of mind map media assisted direct learning models. The method of this research is quantitative descriptive research by applying the Direct Learning model assisted by mind mapping media during Genetic lectures. The research data in the form of critical thinking skills were measured by Ennis methode and analyzed using a normalized Gain Test. Genetic misconception data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods. The results of data analysis show that the application of mind map media assisted direct learning models can improve students' critical thinking skills by 59.85%.The increase in critical thinking skills is in the medium category. The concept of genetics studied is, Definition of Genetics and its Scope, Genetic Material, and Reproduction of Genetic Material. The findings of this study are expected to provide information to lecturers and students of Biology Education Masters in an effort to minimize misconceptions in genetic material and improve critical thinking skills in learning Biology in Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core aim of the research was to adapt the 5E model cycles into daily lesson plans for solving the problem of teaching biology, improve the lessons delivery process effectively and promote the quality of education systems. The research was conducted on 40 diploma graduating candidates of teaching biology from four CTEs of Ethiopia. Candidates were trained on how to incorporate and use both elements of the normal teaching methods and the 5E model cycles in the daily lesson plans for practical uses of biology lesson delivery implemented twice through peer-teaching. The efficacy of using both mode of lesson delivery was evaluated comparatively through purposely set performance checklists. As a result, the overall average teaching effectiveness of adapting the 5E model cycles was 93.5% in comparison with the 42.85% gained through the use of the normal teaching methods. Adapting the 5E model cycles had solved the problem teaching biology by 50.65% and that much improved the quality of teaching biology. Adapting the 5E model cycles in the daily lesson and uses for teaching biology had significant roles both in conceptual changes and constructivist views of learning while uses of the components in classroom discussion facilitated for more self preparedness in teaching to suit with the quality and serve more than models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a qualitative-quantitative research, where the main concern is to investigate Content knowledge representation of Filipino Teachers in their schema (proposition, linear ordering and imagery) of some biology topics. The five biology topics includes: Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, human reproductive system, Mendelian genetics and NonMendelian genetics. The study focuses on the six (6) biology teachers and a total of 222 students in their respective classes. Of the Six (6) teachers, three (3) are under the Science curriculum and three (3) under regular curriculum in both public and private schools in Iligan city and Lanao del Norte, Philippines. The study utilizes interpretative case-study method, bracketing method, and concept analysis for qualitative part. For quantitative, it uses a nonparametric statistical tool, Kendall's Tau to determine congruence of students and teachers' concept maps and paired t-test for testing the significant differences of pre- and post-instruction concept maps to determine the effects of students' conceptual understanding before and after the teacher's representation of their schema that requires the teachers' thinking processes. The data were cross-validated with two or more techniques used in the study. The data collection entailed seven (7) months immersion: one (1) month for preliminary phase for the researcher to gain teachers' and students' confidence and the succeeding six (6) months for main observation and data collection. Results indicate that the teacher utilize six methods to construct meaning of concepts, three methods of representing classification, four methods to represent relationships, seven methods to represent transformation and three methods to represent causation in planning and implementing the lessons. They often modify definitions in the textbook and express these in lingua franca to be better understood by the students. Furthermore, the teachers' analogs given to student are sometimes far from the things, objects, events or processes being compared to. This suggests that teachers sometimes provide the condition for students' developing alternative conception through analogy/metaphors that they give. Also, the results suggest that there is significant differences between the pre and post instruction mean scores of concept maps before and after the teacher representation of their schema. Moreover, most of the topic (photosynthesis, human reproductive system, Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetics) studied have moderately or substantial to high agreement between the two groups. Hence, suggest that the teachers' representation highly influence student conceptual This study captures the thinking processes of teacher in representing their schema to their students in a natural setting and subsequently evaluated the effect of their thinking process to student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed research, is a snapshot of some Filipino Biology teachers' knowledge structure and how their concepts of the five topics in Biology (Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, human reproductive system, Mendelian genetics and NonMendelian genetics) functions and develops inside a biology classroom. The study focuses on the six biology teachers and a total of 222 students in their respective classes. Of the Six (6) teachers, three (3) are under the Science curriculum and the other three (3) are under regular curriculum in both public and private schools in Iligan city and Lanao del Norte, Philippines. The study utilized classroom discourses, concept maps, interpretative case-study method, bracketing method, and concept analysis for qualitative part; the quantitative part uses a nonparametric statistical tool, Kendall's tau Coefficient for determining relationship and congruency while measures of central tendencies and dispersion (mean, and standard deviation) for concept maps scores interpretation. Knowledge Base of Biology teachers were evaluated by experts in field of specialization having a doctorate program (e.g. PhD in Genetics) and PhD Biology candidates. The data collection entailed seven (7) months immersion: one (1) month for preliminary phase for the researcher to gain teachers' and students' confidence and the succeeding six (6) months for main observation and data collection. The evaluation of teachers' knowledge base by experts indicated that teachers' knowledge of (65%) is lower than the minimum (75%) recommended by ABD-el-Khalick and Boujaoude (1997). Thus, the experts believe that content knowledge of the teachers is hardly adequate for their teaching assignment. Moreover, the teachers in this study do not systematically use reallife situation to apply the concepts they teach. They can identify concepts too abstract for their student; however, they seldom use innovative ways to bring the discussion to their students' level of readiness and capacity to learn. Kendall's Tau Coefficient of agreement indicated that there is an agreement of the rating by experts and PhD (Biology) candidates. As for recommended level for teaching based on the respondent content knowledge structure, the experts and the PhD (Biology) candidates agree that the content knowledge of the teachers is at the borderline (rating of 6) between elementary and high school. These results imply that biology teachers need in-service training to upgrade their content knowledge in the subject. At the same time, the pre-service curriculum for biology teachers needs upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is aimed to find the most suitable model that could predict the students' success at the medical pre-university studies, Centre for Foundation in Science, Languages and General Studies of Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS). The predictors under investigation were the national high school exit examination-Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) achievements such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Mathematics, Mathematics, English and Bahasa Malaysia results as well as gender and high school background factors. The outcomes showed that there is a significant difference in the final CGPA, Biology and Mathematics subjects at pre-university by gender factor, while by high school background also for Mathematics subject. In general, the correlation between the academic achievements at the high school and medical pre-university is moderately significant at a-level of 0.05, except for languages subjects. It was found also that logistic regression techniques gave better prediction models than the multiple linear regression technique for this data set. The developed logistic models were able to give the probability that is almost accurate with the real case. Hence, it could be used to identify successful students who are qualified to enter the CUCMS medical faculty before accepting any students to its foundation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has found significant gender disparities in the pursuit of degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The primary source of this disparity among a cohort of Florida high school students are Engineering and Biology, the most popular STEM majors. Men are overrepresented in Engineering while Biology degree recipients are representative of all baccalaureate degree recipients. This study examines how gender, race, and high school course-taking predict STEM, Engineering, and Biology degree attainment. High school biology is a clear predictor of future Engineering or Biology degree attainment. Future biologists take Advanced Placement Biology while future engineers take Biology Honors. Engineering and Biology students show few differences in Chemistry and Physics course-taking. When accounting for course-taking, Black and Hispanic baccalaureate degree recipients are more likely to complete STEM degrees. Directions for further research are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the Engineering to Transform the Education of Analysis, Measurement, & Science (EngrTEAMS) project in the U.S. EngrTEAMS is an engineering, design-based approach to teacher professional development and includes summer professional development and curriculum writing workshops, coaching to allow teams of teachers to design engineering curricular units.

For the last several years, we have been transforming the curriculum of our major's introductory biology laboratory courses by including course-embedded undergraduate research experiences (CURE) and other high-impact teaching practices. In response to the pandemic, these courses were converted to a hybrid format with shortened class times, which required substantial adjustments in how the courses were scaffolded. Our CURE courses emphasize scientific thinking through the process of science and data analysis. To develop these skills, students need ample practice and instructional feedback. To support this, we created video lectures for all aspects of the courses, and developed pre-lab assignments that are discussed in groups during the synchronous lab times. We also make use of video demonstrations during class to train students on observing animal behavior and developing procedures. We have found many of these instructional tools developed in response to the pandemic to be substantial improvements over what we did pre-pandemic. This presentation will outline the structure of our CURE courses and our new strategies for scaffolding student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]