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…

This paper highlights learning supports associated with genetics lessons that were implemented in a urban high school biology classroom. The supports provided access to science content for ELLs [English language learners], students with IEPs [individualized education programs], and struggling readers during an introductory unit on genetics. Due to…

This study investigates classroom organisation and interaction focusing on phases of activity. The detailed in-depth case study is based on video recordings of 1 science unit consisting of 11 lessons about biological evolution in a Swedish ninth-grade class (aged 15). The study illuminates the temporality of student participation as a fundamental…

This study explores how web-based scaffolding tools provide instructional support while implementing a socio-scientific inquiry (SSI) unit in a science classroom. This case study focused on how students used web-based scaffolding tools during SSI activities, and how students perceived the SSI unit and the scaffolding tools embedded in the SSI…

This study reports findings from an exploration of the literacy practices of 10 high school science teachers. Based on observations of teachers' instruction, we report teachers' use of text, evidence-based vocabulary and comprehension practices, and grouping practices. Based on interviews with teachers, we also report teachers' perceptions…

We investigate the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student test achievement and high school course-taking. We focus on three subject/grade combinations--middle school math, ninth-grade algebra and geometry, and ninth-grade biology--and find evidence that a teacher's basic skills test scores are modestly predictive of student…

Through a case study, we explore how four Grade 9-10 biology teachers in Singapore experienced their collaborative approach to curriculum and addressed challenges associated with newly prescribed science curricula, such as the perceived lack of clarity and pressure to complete teaching curricular content. With the teachers participating in a…

In Indian secondary schools, as in many countries, Information and Communication Technologies, ICT, are changing the image of learning places, the roles of teachers and students, and often the entire classroom learning ambience. This study investigates current practices for learning biology in school computer labs in India in the light of the…

In view of the lack of instruments for measuring biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), this article reports on a study about the development of PCK items for measuring teachers' knowledge of pupils' errors and ways for dealing with them. This study investigated 9th and 10th grade German pupils' (n = 461) drawings in an achievement…

This paper examines learning of science in 15 grade nine classrooms by analyzing the type of talk that teachers engaged in. Using transcripts from audio recordings that are part of the Singapore Corpus of Research in Education database, annotations were carried out on the phrases of teacher talk using Mortimer and Scott's framework for meaning…

In the general activity of daily life, it is easy to miss our dependency on the Earth's ecology. At the same time that people are living apparently separate from the environment, our impact on the Earth is increasing. This study seeks to understand how teachers can bridge this persistent disconnect of daily life from ecology and human impact.…

In the context of an education reform in Quebec, this case study illustrates how a science teacher's practice was redefined with nine classes over a period of four months on a specific, integrative theme inspired by issues of daily life in an attempt to increase her students' motivation and to better make sense of some scientific concepts…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there is a difference in high school students' achievement and retention on standardized tests between students who participate in inquiry-based laboratory activities and those that participate in traditional style laboratory activities. Additionally, student and teacher opinions of…