Evolutionary theory is fundamental to biology, yet evolution instruction in high schools has often been unsatisfactory. How or whether high school biology teachers teach evolution is influenced by their own acceptance or rejection of evolutionary theory, parents' and community members' views, and in the case of some private schools, their…

The United States still has one of the lowest evolution acceptance rates in the world. Biology educators have been diligent in their methods to increase evolution acceptance and knowledge, with much success. However, misconceptions still arise through education, textbooks, and even social and religious settings that may influence our citizens' low…

A feature of student--teacher--scientist partnerships (STSPs) involves students working with scientists for the purpose of helping them learn more about how scientists work and think. Previous research on STSPs has generally focused on identifying the best practices of partnerships and on identifying challenges of these partnerships. The study…

While some have argued that abandoning religious belief is the only way to help religious individuals accept evolution, we strongly contend that highlighting faith-evolution compatibility is much more effective. This article describes a professional development event for science teachers and religious educators highlighting ways to teach human…

Socioscientific issues have proved to be excellent tools for fostering the development of higher-order thinking skills that lead to superior socioscientific reasoning and decision making. This educational construct, with a focus on a local coastal environmental situation, was incorporated into a science class of high school biology students in…

In this two-part activity, high school biology students examine human karyotyping, sex-chromosome-linked disorders, and the relationship between biological sex and gender. Through interactive simulations and a structured discussion lab, students create a human karyotype and diagnose chromosomal disorders in hypothetical patients, as well as…

Thomas Kuhn, in "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," posited that science does not progress by the steady accumulation of knowledge, but rather by a system of competition among paradigms. They vie for supremacy through greater parsimony, explanatory power, and popularity among the community of scientists (Kuhn, 1962). The current…

This article outlines the history of the high school "general biology" course and details how biology came to be placed first in the traditional order of science subjects (biology-chemistry-physics). The article briefly discusses the implications of the development of this sequence for the present day biology course.

Many plant biologists claim that there is a tremendous bias towards the study of animals in science curricula, however, there is even less attention given to topics on fungi. On average, Biology laboratory manuals will have only one fungi exercise, and most of the time, it is mainly descriptive. As we developed this exercise we realized how much…

Although most high school students want their biology classes to include evolution, most high school biology classes in Minnesota do not emphasize evolution. This lack of an emphasis on evolution defies state educational standards and is associated with most students (high school and college) having serious misconceptions about evolution. The…