An Examination of Reproduction and Development in Secondary School Biology Curricula: Türkiye and Germany

Biology, a living science, is known as a balance and complement among other branches of science. Just like the science of biology, biology as a course also plays a very important role among other courses at all school types and grades. It is thought that the adults of the future should not be deprived of knowledge in the field of biology and should use every correct information they have acquired in their daily life to overcome related problems they may encounter. For the change that occurs in the individual's life to be permanent, the way to effective education is through a curriculum developed with socio-cultural, scientific and technological developments, taking into account the conditions of t he country. For example, comparing other countries' educational practices and curricula based on the results from international assessments such as PISA TIMSS. According to the PISA science scores (2018), Germany has performed above the average determined by the OECD. Therefore, current education programs in Munich are discussed as an example in this research. This study adopted document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, as the methodology. The "2018 Secondary Education Biology (9, 10, 11 and 12th Grades) Curriculum" published by the Ministry of National Education in Türkiye and the "Biology Curriculum of Germany" published by Kultusministerkonferenz were examined. While examining the documents in the study, they were subjected to content analysis. According to the findings, as in Bavaria, instead of encouraging rote learning regarding these topics for the sole purpose of university entrance purposes, Türkiye should include in curricula or teach in seminars the social and ethical aspects of HIV/AIDS, sexual/reproductive health, adolescent development, transmission and prevention of diseases, reproductive drug diagnostics, biomedical processes, opportunities, and risks. As a result, there are some differences in terms of content in the curriculum of both countries. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]