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Molecular biology, broadly defined as the investigation of complex biomolecules in the laboratory, is a rapidly advancing field and as such the technologies available to investigators are constantly evolving. This constant advancement has obvious advantages because it allows students and researchers to perform more complex experiments in shorter periods of time. One challenge with such a rapidly advancing field is that techniques that had been vital for students to learn how to perform are now not essential for a laboratory scientist. For example, while cloning a gene in the past could have led to a publication and form the bulk of a PhD thesis project, technology has now made this process only a step toward one of these larger goals and can, in many cases, be performed by a company or core facility. As teachers and mentors, it is imperative that we understand that the technologies we teach in the lab and classroom must also evolve to match these advancements. In this perspective, we discuss how the rapid advances in gene synthesis technologies are affecting curriculum and how our classrooms should evolve to ensure our lessons prepare students for the world in which they will do science.

Environmental risk perception has a long-time travel in the public participation in environmental fields. This perception involves individually socially constructed physical and mental experiences that involve many factors just for knowledge, attitudes, and the culture that develops in society. An individual's understanding of environmental risk provides an overview of an individual's preparedness for appropriate environmental risk strategies and measures. This cross-sectional survey study aims to collect data on the environmental risk perception of Indonesian students. The survey data instrument used in this study is the environmental risk perception scale (ERPS) questionnaire, transformed into Google Forms in the Indonesian language. The target respondents were 1,267 students from 1,300 undergraduate population size of educational study programs in the field of biology who came from various institutions in Indonesia. Sexual category, grade point average (GPA), and university status to explore the perception of the active student environment of prospective biology teachers with various parameters. The results showed several interesting findings: the female sex is more sensitive to environmental risks, academic abilities play a more logical role in environmental risk analysis, and respondents who have taken environmental courses have a higher sensitivity to environmental risk.

In this study, we assessed a highly structured, yearlong, case-based course designed for undergraduate pre-health students. We incorporated both content learning assessments and developed a novel method called Multiple Mini Exams for assessing course impact on the development of skills that professional schools often seek in pre-health students, focusing on students' abilities to collaborate with others, display bedside manners, synthesize patient case details, appropriately use scientific and medical language, and effectively attain patients' medical histories. This novel method utilized a rubric based on desired medical student skills to score videotaped behaviors and interactions of students role playing as doctors in a hypothetical patient case study scenario. Overall, our findings demonstrate that a highly structured course, incorporating weekly student performance and presentation of patient cases encompassing history taking, diagnosis, and treatment, can result in content learning, as well as improve desired skills specific for success in medical fields.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the importance of mRNA vaccines. The mechanism for how such vaccines work is related to the core biology topic of the central dogma, which students often misunderstand despite its importance. Therefore, we wanted to know whether students can apply their biology knowledge of central dogma to the real-world issue of how mRNA COVID vaccines work. Accordingly, we asked college biology students of different expertise levels how the COVID vaccine worked. Later, we cued them by telling them the vaccine contains mRNA and asked them what the mRNA does. We used thematic analysis to find common ideas in their responses. In the uncued condition, fewer than half of the students used central dogma-related ideas to explain what was in the vaccine or how the vaccine worked. Inaccurate ideas were present among all groups of biology students, particularly entering biology majors and non-biology majors, including the idea that the COVID vaccines contain a weakened, dead, or variant form of the COVID virus. After students were cued, many more students in all expertise groups expressed central dogma-related themes, showing that students could apply the knowledge of central dogma if prompted. Advanced biology majors were much more likely to state that the vaccines code for a viral protein, indicating their advanced application of central dogma concepts. These results highlight inaccurate ideas common among students and show changes in the ability to apply knowledge with student expertise level, which could inform future interventions to support student learning about vaccines and central dogma.

Students' scientific literacy may be improved by the integration of social issues into biology courses, enabling them to make informed decisions on social issues in the context of their scientific knowledge. Additionally, this may allow students to recognize the connection between science and society. Although there are a number of benefits with having students learn about social issues in biology courses, most undergraduate courses may follow a traditional curriculum, which emphasizes the scientific content without framing it in a social context. Here, we investigated whether undergraduate students have been exposed to social issues in previous biology courses and examined how their perceptions changed before and after taking a biology course that incorporated social issues. In surveys, most students reported having no exposure to social issues in biology courses. Most students, especially females and persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs), agreed with the integration of social issues in biology courses before taking the course. Students found reflection essays to be a useful tool in allowing them to think and share their thoughts on social issues as well as relate the course content to their personal lives. These results highlight students' interest in learning about social issues from a scientific perspective and how reflection essays may be used to practice applying their knowledge to real-world issues.

The aim of this study is to examine the opinions of prospective teachers about biology and nature-related activities for mentally disabled students. The survey method was used in this quantitative study. Attitude scale towards biology and nature-related activities for mentally disabled students was used as a data collection tool. The scale was applied to a total of 258 (183 females, 75 males) prospective teachers studying at the education faculty of a state university and taking special education courses. According to the findings, prospective teachers expressed their positive opinions about all the activities specified in the scale. However, a few prospective teachers stated that some of the activities, especially interaction with animals, were not applicable for their mentally disabled students. However, when the findings are evaluated in general, it is concluded that biology and nature-related activities are very valuable for mentally disabled students.

This research aims to produce integrated biology teaching materials with the values of the Al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah that are valid and effective in improving cognitive, psychomotor, and strengthening students' faith and devotion. This development research (R&D) uses the ADDIE model which consists of five stages, i.e. analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The data collection techniques used were literature studies, observations, interviews, questionnaires, and tests. Data collection instruments used include interview sheets, validation sheets, questionnaire sheets, pre-test and post-test question sheets, observation sheets, and checklists. The teaching materials were validated by three validators (material experts, learning experts, Al-Qur'an/Hadist experts), and practitioners from several biology teachers from different schools. The data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively (triangulation). The research results showed that the teaching materials developed met the very valid category based on the assessment of material experts, learning experts, Al-Qur'an/Hadist experts, and practitioners. Moreover, the products received excellent responses from the students. The teaching materials could improve students' cognitive and psychomotor and also increase students' values of faith and piety. Further action will be extended to schools, especially schools with Islamic nuances so that they can be used both as self-taught materials for students and as teaching materials for teachers to use in the learning process.

Laboratory courses offer a unique opportunity, and sometimes challenge, to engage students in projects where they can experience ownership and authentic science practices. An important science practice is writing, which can lead to increased learning about concepts and science communication. Experiencing a sense of ownership in research can lead to various student outcomes, such as increased motivation, greater interest in research, and higher retention in STEM fields. Although previous work has extracted aspects of ownership from students' descriptions of research experiences, studies have not examined directly how students define and perceive ownership. In addition, we do not have a clear idea of whether a sense of ownership is related to student attitudes toward scientific writing in a lab course setting. To better understand the relationship between ownership and writing directly from students' perspectives, we used analysis of student responses to surveys and interviews in an upper-division laboratory course. Using a grounded theory approach for the analysis of 167 survey responses and 9 interviews, we found that students have varying perceptions of project ownership, with the most frequent being opportunities to contribute ideas and shape the project (autonomy), doing the work, and leadership. Students largely perceived that increased ownership had positive influences on their writing, such as increased understanding and thinking, freedom in writing, and increased motivation. Learning about how students perceive ownership in the context of a lab course is useful for considering how lab course structure may support the development of a sense of ownership and may influence how we can engage students in meaningful writing practices.

There is a consensus amongst scholars that learning from student feedback depends on how the feedback is sought and used by the individual teachers. Using Hand and Rowe's (2001) framework of eliciting and using student feedback, the purpose of this self-study was to investigate how I, as a novice teacher educator, can use dialogue with my students to learn about and how to foster student interaction in my biology classroom. I collected data through multiple sources including students' written feedback, my reflective journal, focus-group interviews with the students, and video recordings of my teaching. Data were analysed through a narrative approach. Findings indicate that the continuous dialogue with my students helped me learn about student interaction and fostering it in my classroom through a variety of ways. This study also illustrates that the teacher needs to establish trust with students from the onset such that the dialogue cannot only be of professional value to the teacher but also improve the students' learning. These insights are discussed, and recommendations are made in the article.

Plant metabolite compounds have been applied on plant cellular metabolism, produces organic and inorganic compounds, primary and secondary bioactive molecules, such as glucose, amino acids, fat acids, alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids. Undergraduate biology students learn about the plant terpenoid assisted by bioinformatics to store, manage, and interpret the molecular information about these compounds. This research aims to observe the students' understanding of terpenoid through implementing bioinformatics approach. Besides, to investigate how practice the bioinformatics technology in learning terpenoid may impact students' comprehension of plant metabolism domain and their acquisition of bioinformatics inquiry skills. Bioinformatics is a computational database that relies on digital repositories of molecular biology informations. Data analysis was in the form of quantitative and qualitative descriptive using module learning resources based on terpenoid research and assisted by bioinformatics. The results indicate that students' comprehension of learning and understanding terpenoid has improved, identification and analysis processes of article reviews showed that students were able to discuss and interpret research finding in silico bioinformatics using molecular docking procedures. Assessment of bioinformatics skills showed that all undergraduate biology students could follow the direct instructions well, answer the questions, practice the dry-lab experimental, and formulate the conclusion correctly.

Most introductory biology laboratories are taught using direct instruction. An alternative to the direct instruction laboratory course is the Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). CURE courses have been reported to positively impact undergraduate students, increasing self-efficacy, enhancing science identity, improving preparation and persistence for STEM careers, and increasing inclusion of underrepresented minorities in undergraduate research. While there are several affective benefits of CUREs, our literature review reveals an absence of studies assessing pre-health students' science identity, self-efficacy, and perceptions after participating in a community-engaged CURE laboratory. We found that students agreed that their community-engaged laboratory course had CURE design features, Discovery and Relevance had the highest rating. Overall, our results indicate that self-efficacy improved from the beginning to the end of the semester. Students in the community-engaged CURE showed gains in science identity. Understanding student affective domain is critical for improving student learning in gateway biology laboratory courses since they play very important roles in determining whether students can complete their degrees in the STEM fields. Future research should examine the relationships between self-efficacy, science identity, student perceptions of the community-engaged CURE laboratories, and gender, major, and race/ethnicity.

As a form of implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in educational institutions, an appropriate learning model is needed, which also accommodates aspects of spirituality. Before developing a model, baseline data is needed, so a broad-scale or national needs analysis is needed. This research aims to determine the profile of spirituality-based action competence for sustainability (ACS) among prospective biology teacher students throughout Indonesia. This research is a cross-sectional survey. The target respondents are students of LPTK biology education study programs in Indonesia. The target population size is 650 people, so based on the Krejcie and Morgan table, the minimum sample size with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5% is 620 students. The data collection instrument used in this research is the action competence for sustainability instrument based on spirituality (ACSIS). Data on respondent characteristics were analyzed using frequencies and percentages. The mean and standard deviation of scores were calculated for each item. Comparisons of two groups of students were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U Test, while comparisons of more than two groups used the Kruskal-Wallis H Test. We discuss interesting findings in this research, including the aspects of spirituality in ACS among prospective biology teacher in Indonesia.

Federal second chance Pell grants were recently made widely available to incarcerated students in the United States to fund undergraduate education. Piedmont Virginia Community College was a pilot site for this expansion and began full scale implementation of transfer-oriented associate degrees at three correctional centers in its service area. The college did not have a biology laboratory curriculum that would meet general education requirements and be feasible in a correctional center, where students do not have internet access or even reliable computer (word processing or spreadsheet) access and where materials are restricted for entry. This paper will serve to introduce the laboratory curriculum that was created to accompany a non-majors general biology laboratory course with materials that were pre-approved to pass through security screening in at least one local correctional facility. The lab manual (at this link) contains student information and instructions as well as a linked suite of files, photos, sample data, and instructions for any instructor to quickly deploy with just a USB flash drive and facility laptop (with no internet). Incarcerated PVCC students enrolled in this course benefit from a hands-on lab experience that mirrors the on-campus lab as much as possible. We hope that by publishing this laboratory manual, we might assist others in developing high quality laboratory experiences for incarcerated students. Every student deserves a second chance.

Biology teachers' attitudes play a vital role in successful scientific investigations. Some biology teachers situated in the central part of South Africa experience challenges that include a lack of the necessary scientific knowledge and skills, which hinders the presentation of scientific investigations. These challenges adversely influence these biology teachers' attitudes towards conducting scientific investigations. The result is that they conduct the minimum number of investigations with their learners, or don't conduct them at all. Professional, in-service training workshops allow biology teachers to develop the necessary scientific knowledge and skills to successfully conduct scientific investigations. This study aimed to understand how a scientific investigation workshop affected biology teachers' attitudes by measuring the ABC attitude model's affective, cognitive and behavioural components. Likert-type, five-point scale items were used for the 20 pre-surveys and the same for the 20 post-surveys that were completed and collected for analysis. This research provided information on how vital in-service training programmes such as this scientific investigation workshop are in fostering positive attitudes toward scientific investigations amongst biology teachers. The findings that emerged from this study imply that implementing this scientific investigation workshop has developed biology teachers' confidence in their science skills and knowledge to facilitate scientific investigations. The findings also indicate that this workshop caused a significant improvement in teachers' intended behaviours in implementing scientific investigations in the science classrooms, as they gained valuable knowledge and skills regarding the science apparatus and the use thereof in conducting scientific investigations.

With the onset of COVID-19, colleges and universities moved to emergency remote teaching, and instructors immediately adjusted their curricula. Many instructors adapted or developed new online lessons that they subsequently published as Open Educational Resources (OERs). While much has been examined related to how entire course designs evolved during this period, the same attention has not been paid to how individual lessons were structured to meet online learners' needs. As such, we evaluated OER lessons for the integration of universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines and active learning strategies. We evaluated OER lessons published in "CourseSource," which is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on biology lessons implemented in undergraduate classrooms and provides the necessary details and supporting materials to replicate the lesson. We found that biology instructors used a variety of UDL guidelines and active learning strategies to encourage student learning and engagement in online teaching environments. This study also provides a collection of OER online lessons that instructors and educational developers can use to inform the practice of engaging biology students.

The purpose of the drawing method is to reveal the hidden beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and understanding of students without being dependent on words. It is more useful than other techniques in that it is easy to apply and a lot of data can be obtained with a drawing. Some misconceptions can be revealed by asking students to describe or illustrate some objects or phenomena. Biology is mostly concerned with the diagnosis of structures, their interrelationships and their functions. For this reason, it is very important to draw the biological structures correctly. Human circulatory system' comprehension is a major point in biology education. Because understanding this system is a basis for learning the transport and exchange of substances in the human body, the lymphatic system, gas exchange, and other important biological concepts. The aim of this study is to examine the cognitive structures of biology teacher candidates about the "circulatory system" with the drawing technique. In this study, a case study was conducted to reveal the biology teacher candidates' drawings in detail. In order to explore biology teacher candidates' drawing of the circulatory system in detail, their drawings were collected as data through 32 high school students (teacher candidates) in biology education faculty from Turkey. After the drawings were completed, each drawing was effectively scored for the presence or absence of at least one organ/structure in circulatory system. In addition, the drawings were further reclassified, taking into account the pattern of the path of pulmonary and systemic circulations. According to the findings obtained from the drawings of the biology teacher candidates about the circulatory system, it was revealed that the teacher candidates had many misconceptions, mistakes and incomplete information.

The implementation of instructional models in the classroom significantly impacts students' learning abilities and achievements. The adoption of a teacher-centered learning approach might lead to reduced student engagement in the learning process, consequently influencing their ability to acquire life skills. The current study aimed to determine the educational attainment, teaching experience, utilization of learning media and application of learning models by junior and senior high school biology teachers in Ternate, Indonesia. This study employed a qualitative research method that utilized survey questionnaires. The respondents were 25 biology teachers of junior high school and 30 biology teachers of senior high school. The research findings showed that (1) 84% of the junior high school biology teachers have the undergraduate education and 16% of them have the master education; 69.77% of those of the senior high school have the undergraduate education and 30.23% of them have the master education. (2) Both the junior and the senior high school biology teachers have over 15 years of teaching experience. (3) Among the junior high school biology teachers, the use of student worksheet is only 20%, and the use of learning media is 14%; Among the senior high school biology teachers, the use of student worksheet is 36.66% and the use of learning media is 23.33%. (4) The uses of conventional learning and the use of cooperative learnings among junior high school biology teachers are 83% and 17%, respectively; where as among those of senior high school are 73.34% and 26.66%, respectively. In conclusion, the educational qualifications of junior and senior high school biology teachers in Ternate have satisfied the necessary criteria for teaching. However, the teachers have not been able to enhance the quality of education in the city. This highlights the importance of developing innovative learning models to improve the learning abilities and achievements.

Good metacognitive allows individuals to more easily adapt to changes in the learning environment and face challenges that arise. They tend to be more flexible in changing their learning strategies according to new needs and situations. The aim of this research is to determine the correlation between metacognitive and the academic resilience of students concentrating on biology subjects at State of Senior High School 1 Tasikmalaya. This research was carried out from January to March 2024. The method used was correlational with a population of 950 students. Sampling was carried out using a quota sampling technique, that 10% of the population was taken which represents the research characteristics of 211 students. The study instruments used consisted of 3 validated instruments, including the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) and Academic Resilience 30 (ARS-30). The data were analyzed using a bivariate correlation regression test. Based on the study results, it shows that there is a correlation between metacognitive and (R= 0.792; R2 = 0.627). The Effective Contribution (EC) given by metacognitive to academic resilience, is 15.7%. So, it could be concluded that the correlation between metacognitive to students' academic resilience in biology subjects at State of Senior High School 1 Tasikmalaya is in the strong category because it is in the regression criteria between 0.60 - 0.799.

"Kurikulum Merdeka" is a learning experience framework that offers flexibility and focuses on essential content, character development, and students' competencies. Teachers had the discretion to develop their modules to choose, design, and organize the learning contents for students, based on their needs. By using that module, there is more flexibility and independence either for teachers and students, while enhancing the relevance, interactivity, and effectiveness of learning. This research aims to develop problem-based teaching modules on biology based on "Kurikulum Merdeka" as a reference in the learning process. This research and development, referring to Borg and Gall's model, consists of (1) research and information collection, (2) planning, (3) developing a preliminary form of the product, (4) preliminary field testing, and (5) main product revision. The participants in this development research are teachers as learning experts and students of a senior high school in one of the districts of East Lombok as a subject in limited trials. Data collection used closed questionnaires to determine the feasibility and ideality of the instrument. Data analysis using quantitative descriptive analysis involves analyzing the results of instrument feasibility and ideality from experts and students. The results show that the developed module was included in the very feasible and ideal learning resources. The readability test of the worksheet after limited trials was included in the good category for the biodiversity content, and quite good for the virus and ecosystem content. Therefore, the problem-based teaching module on biology content in phase E of grade XI of senior high school is considered feasible.

This research aimed to determine students' opinions on technology-supported drama activities applied in teaching the subject of the central nervous system in the biology course. The research used a case study design, a qualitative research method. The study was conducted with 25 students studying biology at a state university. An appropriate sampling method was used to determine the study group. Within the scope of the research, a semi-structured interview form was used to determine students' opinions about technology-supported drama method applications. This form allowed students to express their experiences in depth. The research results indicated that the students had a generally positive perspective on the technology-supported drama method used in the biology course. Since technology-supported creative drama activities provide students with a learning environment that they enjoy, this method can be recommended to increase students' interest in lessons and ensure permanent learning of content.

The aim of this research was to evaluate and compare the efficiency of the flipped learning strategy with that of a conventional teaching method with respect to learning outcomes, cognitive gain, and perception and satisfaction with regard to the methodology used. The research was carried out during the 2021-2022 academic year and focused on a molecular biology course within a primary education Bachelor's degree programme, which included a total of 146 students. In order to assess the students' comprehension of the mechanisms involved in DNA replication, transcription and translation, we employed two different methods: the multiple-select Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) and a concept-mapping activity. A three-point Likert-type scale questionnaire was used to investigate the pre-service teachers' perceptions of the methodological approach that we used. The results show that the flipped learning pedagogical approach not only increases pre-service teacher's performance but also enables them to develop higher level cognitive skills than with traditional methodology. However, several features of the central dogma processes remained poorly understood, probably because of the multilevel and invisible nature of the molecular biology, and the lack of knowledge of the molecular interactions that facilitate these processes. The preservice teachers had a more positive perception of the teaching approach and their own competence when they followed the flipped model.

E-learning tools technology is a paradigm shift in facilitating learning in our world today and the driving force of education in developed countries. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the accessibility and utilization of E-learning tools for teaching biology in secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis. The study was guided by the technology acceptance model theory, and employed a descriptive survey design. The population of the study were all biology teachers in public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis. The sample size was determined from the estimate of the target population which is 368. The sample size for this study was 250 respondents from 100 public secondary schools. A well-structured questionnaire was the instrument. The data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed lack of access and low or non-utilization of E-learning tools for teaching biology in public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis while factors observed to be responsible for the findings are low or lack of awareness on the part of teachers, poor policy formulation to incorporate the use of e-learning tools and poor infrastructure in the schools.

Dual Enrollment (DE) or Dual Credit (DC) programs have become increasingly prevalent at both the high school and college settings. These programs enable students to earn both high school and college credit and get a head start on their college education. Additionally, students in these programs must take university core curriculum courses to fulfill their college education requirements. A course that several students take is Introductory to Biology, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) course. This course is an introductory science course and may present a challenge for students in that there is a large quantity of material discussed. Moreover, students must adapt to new study strategies excel in the course. Moreover, educational administrators or school leaders, administrators or principals must consider student performance and therefore must look at location and student performance to better improve student outcomes. Scant studies look at school leaders' perception on science dual enrollment courses. Moreover, administrators must have systems in place to promote high quality instruction and student success in dual enrollment courses. This study will look at students taking introductory biology courses and their performance at both the high school and non-high school locations (i.e. college environment) in Texas using the Mann-Whitney U statistical test. In addition, this study will provide recommendations to high school leaders such as administrators and principals regarding location and student outcomes for students in dual enrollment biology courses to ensure high quality instruction and student achievement are in place.

Biology as an integral part of science learning continues to be maximized by integrating technology into its learning design. The definite manifestation of this integration process is to achieve meaningfulness, activeness, and effectiveness of the learning carried out. The flipped classroom (FC) is gaining popularity as a pedagogical model that uses the important benefits of technology in its learning environment. FC is proven to be an effective teaching mode that empowers students' 21st-century skills, stimulates students' self-learning, and improves academic performance. The potential of the FC is interesting to explore to what extent biology welcomes the FC. The aimed of this systematic literature review is to review and analyze articles published by Scopus indexed journals. We used the keywords "Flipped classroom and biology" in the search menu in the Scopus database and succeeded in finding 72 articles. There were 21 articles that met the criteria for further analysis. The inclusion and exclusion model used is PRISMA. The findings obtained are the trend of FC publications in biology learning over the last ten years. The approaches used in this research include quantitative, mixed method, case study and qualitative. Key words that are often used by writers are student, human, biology. The biology keyword has a branch, namely active learning. There are 9 countries of origin of authors who publish articles. The United States is a country that is active in publishing. Articles published on each continent are not evenly distributed. The dominant articles are published in collaboration with one country and rarely are articles published by one author. We have succeeded in formulating a picture of the existence of the FC in biology learning over the last ten years. These findings can be a consideration or reference for researchers to explore and study more deeply research related to the FC in biology learning based on their respective urgency.

Issues in learning, particularly the utilization of learning resources, have not been maximized to facilitate teachers in guiding students to learn certain concepts related to the surrounding environment. This study aims to analyze the motives and colors of "Sasirangan" as a source of biology learning in high schools and the knowledge of high school biology teachers in Banjarmasin regarding the existence of "Sasirangan." This survey research involved 40 "sasirangan" craftsmen from 20 "sasirangan" production houses and 38 high school biology teachers in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The instruments used were interview sheets and questionnaires. Data analysis was descriptive using percentage techniques. The results of expert validation indicated that the interview sheets and questionnaires were suitable, with scores of 89.63 and 92.5. "Sasirangan" has great potential to become a source of biology learning, both in terms of motives and natural colors used by craftsmen. However, high school biology teachers in Banjarmasin have not fully utilized and conveyed it as a biology learning resource. While in other statements, teachers stated that they understood and explained that the existence of "Sasirangan" is very important to be conveyed in biology learning. Some teachers were able to provide information on biology concepts related to the existence of "Sasirangan."

In the realm of agricultural development, the pursuit of sustainability stands as a paramount objective, necessitating an integration of multifaceted expertise from diverse disciplines. Amidst this pursuit, understanding the perspectives of professionals in both the realms of economy and biology becomes imperative, serving as a cornerstone for innovative strategies. This study examines the viewpoints of economy and biology professionals on multidisciplinary innovations for sustainable agricultural development. Through qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups, the research identifies key themes and challenges. Participants recognise the need for integrating diverse disciplines to address agricultural sustainability, emphasising the importance of economic viability and technological innovation. However, barriers such as high costs and limited access to resources hinder widespread adoption. Policy recommendations include incentivising sustainable practices and fostering collaboration between stakeholders. The results underscore the significance of multidisciplinary approaches in advancing sustainable agriculture, with implications for policy and practice.

Smartphones and tablets have permeated various aspects of life. This study explores the differences in wishes between students, parents, and teachers regarding the use of smartphones and tablets in biology classes in the upcoming school year. An online questionnaire was used for the study, which provided eight different scenarios for the use of smartphones for teaching purposes. The data were collected from 934 participants, including 465 students, 282 parents, and 188 biology teachers from various Slovenian lower secondary schools. The principal component analysis revealed the unidimensional structure of the instrument, explaining 59.7% of the variance (alpha = 0.91). The results showed that the use of smartphones and tablets for distance learning, teaching purposes, schoolwork and homework is generally desirable. There was less consensus on their use for laboratory and field work, evaluation of knowledge, and biology lessons. The main finding was that the differences between the groups were small or even negligible in terms of effect sizes. Statistically significant differences were found between the focus groups, with students and teachers expressing greater agreement than parents. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing parents' concerns and understanding the perspectives of stakeholders in order to effectively integrate smartphones and tablets into the classroom.

The perceptions of students who study environmental science related to pollution are certainly different because they are influenced by various circumstances. These circumstances, among others, depend on what they observe around them and their prior knowledge. This study aimed to determine the concept of pollution according to the cognitive structure of prospective biology teachers. The research was designed as a case study and the selected participants were 29 first-year biology education students who took environmental science courses. Data were collected by giving word association tests, open-ended questions, and drawings. The results showed that students' thinking process and prior knowledge influenced their ability to express ideas or answers. Cognitive perceptions of prospective biology teachers from the word association test brought up 30 words related to the pollution which were grouped into four categories, namely types of pollution, causes of pollution, consequences of pollution, and solutions to overcome pollution. Cognitive perceptions of prospective teachers based on open-ended questions, most of them wrote the definition of pollution as stated in the environmental management law, and cognitive perceptions of prospective teachers outlined in the form of drawing related to efforts to overcome pollution are throwing garbage in its place, doing reforestation, and go green action. [Note: The publication year (2023) shown in the citation on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year is 2024.]

As a result of human beings' activities to dominate nature and transform it for their own benefit as they continue to advance in science and technology, environmental problems such as climate change have become the biggest threat faced by the biosphere in the current century. One of the biggest problems of humanity today is the scarcity of water resources. It is important to reveal the meanings attributed to the concept of water in biology textbooks in order to identify and eliminate the deficiencies or gaps between the concepts related to the subject. The main purpose of this study is to analyze how the concept of water is presented in secondary school biology textbooks. In line with this purpose, answers to the following questions were sought: What biological concepts is water associated with in biology textbooks and how often is it used? Under which categories can the concept of water be classified in biology textbooks? In the study, document analysis was conducted on four biology textbooks published by the Ministry of National Education to be taught in high schools in the 2023-2024 academic year. A qualitative methodology based on inductive logic was used to analyze the data. How water is emphasized in biology textbooks was discussed, and categories were developed to conceptualize explanations about water. These categories were: water as a substance in the structure of organisms, water as a habitat for organisms, water as a substance involved in chemical reactions, water as a human health factor, water as an essential requirement for organisms, water as an environmental problem factor and water as a scarcity factor. According to the results of the textbook content analysis, it was seen that the relationships between water and health concepts in the category of water as a human health factor were well structured. In the study, it was seen that the concept of water was presented in accordance with the target achievements in line with the secondary school biology course curriculum and that the key concepts were given literally. However, it was revealed that the concept of water in textbooks should be structured according to the principles of the systems thinking approach.

Higher-order thinking and metacognition are closely related and are part of learning to develop competence. The goal of this research was to determine the practice of teaching biology that develops metacognition and evaluate whether teachers require specific professional training for this purpose or if broader cognitive-focused training can also enhance metacognitive development in students. The original Teaching Observation Form (TOF) has been adapted for research objectives. A survey was designed to capture the subjective perspectives of 292 students and their teachers regarding metacognition development. Additionally, the research involved six biology teachers who were professionally trained in a program focused on higher-order thinking. The survey results indicate a self-assessed good teaching practice for the development of metacognition. However, analysis of the first lesson's video recordings showed that some components had been eliminated from biology classes which hindered students' ability to develop metacognition. Although higher-order thinking and metacognition are interconnected phenomena, professional development training focuses solely on higher-order thinking whose impact we established through analysis of other lessons does not induce the necessary positive changes for the comprehensive development of metacognition in students. In a nutshell, explicit professional development programs aimed at fostering metacognitive awareness among teachers need to be designed. These programs should instruct teachers on how to model the development of metacognition in students through their teaching.

The aim of this study is to reveal the content analysis and trends of studies on misconceptions in biology education. Within the scope of the research, articles containing misconceptions about biology were accessed from the Scopus database. "Biology and misconception" was searched in the title, abstract and keywords in the Scopus database on September 13, 2022. A total of 410 publications about misconceptions in biology education were found in the search. The years of accessed publications were determined between 1970 and 2022. A total of 410 publications were analyzed in the research, regardless of language. According to the data obtained, 53 countries and 143 journals published articles on misconceptions in biology. However, in order to obtain clearer data, 3 articles were determined as the minimum number of articles for a country, and 31 countries and 27 journals were considered in this research. According to this research, in terms of the number of documents, the USA is the most published country with 199 articles, and Turkey is the second most published country with 39 studies. It was also revealed that the most cited countries were the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, respectively. "CBE Life Sciences Education" and "American Biology Teacher" journals were determined as the journals with the most publications on the subject. In addition, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, CBE Life Sciences Education, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Biological Education, Evolution: Education and Outreach were identified as the most cited journals in the studies. The results of this study are thought to be important for the future development of studies on misconceptions in biology education. Regarding the results obtained from the research; Different indexes can be used in future studies, and other types of publications such as theses, conference proceedings or books can be used in analyses.

Scientific thinking constitutes a vital component of scientific competencies, crucial for citizens to adapt to the evolving societal landscape. To cultivate students' scientific thinking, teachers should possess an adequate professional knowledge foundation, which encompasses pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Assessing teachers' PCK of scientific thinking facilitates the development of effective curricula tailored to their continuous professional development. Despite its significance, empirical studies on biology teachers' PCK of scientific thinking are notably lacking. Hence, this research aimed to create a reliable and valid tool to evaluate upper-secondary school biology teachers' PCK of scientific thinking. The results showed that the instrument exhibits high reliability and good validity, affirming its efficiency for investigative purposes. A collective of 292 in-service biology teachers from upper-secondary schools participated in this investigation through the completion of an online survey. The results indicated that, overall, as well as for each component, upper-secondary school biology teachers' performance on PCK of scientific thinking fell within the lower to middle range. Specifically, the performance levels of four components: knowledge of students (KSU), knowledge of instructional strategies (KIS), knowledge of curriculum (KC), and knowledge of assessment (KA) declined sequentially.

Extracurricular learning plays a key role in shaping students' interest in (not only) biology. The research examined which extracurricular areas related to biology can make biology more attractive for the participating Finnish and Czech students. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 178 Finnish and 195 Czech 9th-grade lower-secondary school students. Cronbach's alpha, Varimax rotation and Mann-Whitney U-test were performed. Factor analysis identified 7 areas: Family trips, My career, Biology lessons, Healthy lifestyle, Institutions, Nature-related hobbies, and Information sources. For Czech, hobbies related to nature and family trips are significant contributors to fostering interest in biology, and an informal educational environment is crucial for cultivating a lasting relationship with biology. For Finns, biology classes and career orientation have a more significant influence on students, demonstrating the effectiveness of formal educational strategies in increasing students' interest in biology. Increasing interest in biology among the students observed in both sociocultural environments is significantly influenced by family involvement and the use of information sources. Further research should explore how specific ECA can support the connection between family and school environments and their impact on students' interest and engagement in biology lessons.

Teaching Biology in an innovative way has always posed challenges due to its complex terminology and abstract concepts. This study explored the effects of reality pedagogy as an alternative instructional strategy on learner motivation and academic performance in learning biology at the ninth-grade level. To achieve this, a quasi-experimental research design was employed, including a pre-test/post-test assessment, biology learning motivation questionnaires, semistructured interviews, and classroom observations. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that the implementation of reality pedagogy had a positive influence on learner motivation in learning biology. Additionally, a significant correlation was identified and observed between motivation levels and academic achievement in the subject. The implications of these findings, as well as recommendations, are also discussed in the study.

Investigating definitions of success and failure among introductory biology students is essential for understanding what underlies their self-efficacy; a student who gets a B on an exam may lose self-efficacy if they define failure as anything less than an A. Yet, whether students have the same definitions for success as they have for failure in these classes is unknown, nor how those definitions relate to course performance. To better understand student definitions for success and failure and their implications, this mixed-methods study collected survey data from students in two introductory biology courses about their definitions of success and failure and their self-reported grades. Coding of open-ended responses revealed four broad themes related to both success and failure: Performance, Content, Preparation, and Attitude. Although there were common themes in how students defined success and failure overall, individual students often (65%) described success or failure in relation to different standards. We also found some definitions of success and failure were predicted by grades. These results highlight the complexity of building self-efficacy in introductory biology and suggest the need for greater awareness and acknowledgment of the different standards students use to judge their success and failure.

Biology education research provides important guidance for educators aiming to ensure access for disabled students. However, there is still work to be done in developing similar guidelines for research settings. By using critical frameworks that amplify the voices of people facing multiple forms of marginalization, there is potential to transform current biology education research practices. Many biology education researchers are still in the early stages of understanding critical disability frameworks, such as Disability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit), which consists of seven tenets designed to explore the intersecting experiences of ableism and racism. Our Research Methods Essay uses DisCrit as a model framework and pulls from other related critical disability frameworks to empower disabled voices in biology education research. Drawing from existing scholarship, we discuss how biology education researchers can design, conduct, and share research findings. Additionally, we highlight strategies that biology education scholars can use in their research to support access for participants. We propose the creation and sharing of Access and Equity Maps to help plan--and make public--the steps researchers take to foster access in their research. We close by discussing frequently asked questions researchers may encounter in taking on critical frameworks, such as DisCrit.

Biology education researchers seek to improve biology education, particularly at the introductory level, yet there is little documentation about what is actually happening in introductory biology. To characterize the landscape of learning expectations for introductory biology, we analyzed course-level learning objectives (n = 1108) and course schedules from 188 nonmajor, mixed major, and major introductory biology syllabi. We analyzed syllabi collected from a diverse range of U.S. institution types to uncover insights about instructional design decisions for introductory biology. Our analysis revealed two distinct nonmajor course types: content and issues-based courses. We found syllabi tend to focus on low-cognitive skills and factual content that is essentially a march in step with a typical textbook table of contents, rarely including core competencies or socioscientific issues (SSIs) other than in nonscience major issues-based courses. Our work contributes more evidence that faculty struggle to write course-level learning objectives. Our findings suggest that there is much work to do if Vision and Change are to become more than simply a vision--to be actualized as change--including developing CLOs for introductory biology as a first step toward creating actionable instructional change.

Causal mechanistic reasoning is a thinking strategy that can help students explain complex phenomena using core ideas commonly emphasized in separate undergraduate courses, as it requires students to identify underlying entities, unpack their relevant properties and interactions, and link them to construct mechanistic explanations. As a cross-disciplinary group of biologists, chemists, and teacher educators, we designed a scaffolded set of tasks that require content knowledge from biology and chemistry to construct nested hierarchical mechanistic explanations that span three scales (molecular, macromolecular, and cellular). We examined student explanations across seven introductory and upper-level biology and chemistry courses to determine how the construction of mechanistic explanations varied across courses and the relationship between the construction of mechanistic explanations at different scales. We found non-, partial, and complete mechanistic explanations in all courses and at each scale. Complete mechanistic explanation construction was lowest in introductory chemistry, about the same across biology and organic chemistry, and highest in biochemistry. Across tasks, the construction of a mechanistic explanation at a smaller scale was associated with constructing a mechanistic explanation for larger scales; however, the use of molecular scale disciplinary resources was only associated with complete mechanistic explanations at the macromolecular, not cellular scale.

The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effectiveness of cooperative learning (CL) strategies on learners' peer relatedness, academic support (AS), and learning gains in Biology. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent group pre-test post-test design was employed, involving a sample of 81 students. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, and analyses were conducted using t-tests, one-way MANOVA, bivariate correlation, and regression analysis. As anticipated, the t-test and MANOVA results revealed that participation in CL strategies had a moderate to substantial effect on the measured variables, with Partial [eta-squared] values ranging from 0.471 to 0.722. In addition, regression analysis indicated that peer relationships and AS together accounted for 43.2% of the variance in overall learning gains. Qualitative findings highlighted significant challenges to the effective implementation of CL, including students' unfamiliarity with the method, resource constraints, and teacher resistance. The findings provide preliminary evidence that shifting classroom instruction from a content-centric approach to a learner-centered approach can enhance not only the quality of teaching but also the quality of learning and key indicators of student success.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of scripted biology curriculum as a means of providing students with the information required to increase content knowledge, while comparing curriculum developed by the teacher that utilizesthe Understanding by Design (UbD) framework (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The study used a mixed method, concurrent triangulation design which revealed that there was a significant difference between student growth from the pretest to the posttest. The teacher reflection logs and student focus groups identified two themes regarding science content knowledge: instructional/learning style and using discussion within the instructional cycle for both curricula. It was evident that the increase in content knowledge was associated with the utilization of discussion during the learning cycle. The teacher reflection logs and student focus groups also identified two themes when looking at the perception of the learning environment: the effect of teacher relationship on instruction and the effect of time on the learning environment. According to the instrument used, both groups of students showed growth, however, there was a larger gain among the students receiving the Understanding by Design curriculum. A major contributing factor for the growth among all students was the relationship the teacher had with them to meet their individual academic needs.

Metacognitive skills are important because they help people develop an understanding of effective strategies. This skill also helps improve one's critical thinking and creative thinking so as to be able to overcome problems in everyday life. The purpose of this research is to train students' metacognitive skills through biology learning using the EAQD-PC learning model (acronym of exploring, analyzing, questioning, defining--peer coaching) which is integrated learning journals (LJ). This research was conducted at the University of Muhammadiyah Bone, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using a quantitative research design, 43 students were taught by EAQD-PC-LJ. Metacognitive skills were tested with an essay test three times. Previous essay tests were validated by expert raters and tested on previous batches of students to measure empirical validity and reliability. All tests are valid and reliable. The results of the treatment showed an improvement in students' metacognitive skills through three tests. The findings of this study prove that EAQD-PC-LJ is effectively used to improve students' metacognitive skills through the learning process. Learning journals have an important role as a tool to train students' mastery of concepts and knowledge.

Creativity in biology education is a crucial aspect that enhances students' understanding of the subject. It consists of several indicators (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration), which can also be used as measuring tools for creativity. This study aimed to determine the influence of the Problem-Oriented Project-Based Learning (POPBL) model in fostering creativity among high school students. The experiment was conducted in April until June 2023. The participants of this study consisted of 10th-grade students from State High School 1 Grogol. The cluster random sampling technique selected X6 as the control and X7 as the experimental classes. This was a quasi-experiment with a Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design, in which two groups were chosen randomly where the classes had previously been tested for equality first. The analysis employed was an analysis of the covariance test. The statistical analysis revealed that students' creativity in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group. Based on this study, we conclude that the POPBL model significantly improved student creativity. We suggest that with higher creativity, students will be able to solve the problems they face in life better.

The people of North Kayong Regency-West Kalimantan still uphold the culture of utilizing plants as food, known as North Kayong local vegetables. Preserving knowledge about existing local potential and its utilization can be done through education based on local wisdom or local potential. It can be employed as a tool to enhance the efficacy and significance of education while preserving the unique possibilities of every area. The K13 curriculum is a curriculum of change from conceptual learning to contextual learning. The education process according to regional potential can be done through encyclopaedia media that attracts readers because the encyclopedia contains explicit information and is accompanied by pictures with bright colours. analysis and development, the creation of a local vegetable-based encyclopedia of North Kayong Regency as a biology learning media using a development model (D&D) consisting of six stages, namely: problem identification, description of objectives, design and development, product trials, evaluation of trial results, and communication of trial outcomes. The outcomes of validation and students response trials to the encyclopedia media developed obtained perfect scores. Where the validation test received a value from media experts of 97.08% (very valid), material experts of 90.22% (very valid), and language experts of 88.14% (very valid). Students responded very well to the small-scale (78.83%) and large-scale (84.47%) trials.