Research in science education has established the significance of collaborative concept mapping as a powerful strategy in fostering conceptual learning. During such collaboration, students talk about concept map features (i.e., concepts to include, linking words, and cross-links) in constructing a joint map. The quality of the concept map produced…

Biology is an essential and compulsory subject offered at all senior high schools in Ghana. However, the level of students' attitude towards biology has been seen to be a result of the use of less motivating teachers' instructional strategies. This research study examined the effect of concept mapping and cooperative learning strategies on…

Helping students to understand complex processes is one of the core challenges in teaching biology courses. Concept mapping is a flexible pedagogical method that enables students to learn the complexities of a given subject while at the same time being versatile enough that instructors can easily pivot between instructional modalities and/or…

Concept-maps are widely used to assess students' conceptual understanding in different subject areas. Conventionally, it is mostly built maps which are assessed. In this study, we explore if "concept-mapping" could be used as a case for constructive alignment of both the process and the outcome of learning. Specifically, we have studied…

Meaningful learning occurs by relating new information to and revising prior knowledge, making it essential to understand student knowledge before helping them move toward a more scientific understanding. In this study, we characterise prior knowledge about cellular respiration in undergraduate students enrolled in introductory biology by…

Concept maps can be used in undergraduate biology as ways to visually communicate the relationships among things and events. One strength of concept mapping is that there is not just a single, correct way to compose one, given a list of particular concepts. Nevertheless there seem to be associations among ideas that are expressed frequently while…

Learning progressions (LPs) are descriptions of students' growing sophistication in the understanding of a particular construct through a curricular sequence. They are particularly useful for organizing complex constructs for which students do not necessarily connect concepts as taught in different courses. However, they are challenging to…

Biology is a complex science that includes different subjects. As a result, misconceptions, confusion and misleading are common problems in biology education. In this study, it was aimed to determine the learning of pre-service science teachers about food web. The research, using the case study, was conducted in 2019-2020. The study group of the…

Is it possible to teach biology without mentioning evolution? The answer is yes, but it is not possible for students to understand biology without the evolutionary context on which the meaning and intellectual value of biological concepts depend. Meaningful learning of evolution requires (1) that the students incorporate new knowledge into a…

Concept mapping instructional strategy is one of the innovations in the teaching and learning of science and biology in particular. Previous studies have reported that teachers and students experienced difficulties in the use of concept mapping. Hence, this study investigated the effects of Concept-mapping instructional strategy on senior…

The aim of present research was to examine the effects of interdisciplinary teaching approach on teaching the topic of proteins. In the research, unequal control group model- one of the quasi-experimental research designs was used. The experimental group included 16 students (8 female and 8 male) whereas the control group included 14 students (6…

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the Remap RT (Reading -- Concept Mapping -- Reciprocal Teaching) learning model on low-ability students' achievement in biology. This quasi-experimental research made use of a pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group design. The population of this research was 125 tenth-grade…

The theory of evolution can be a useful basis for developing students' understanding of ecology. Our study used concept maps to examine the development of sixth-grade students' understanding of the Antarctic ecosystem following several evolution 'Science Days' conducted at 'Nature Campus' -- an informal learning environment comprised of a natural…

This study investigated the effects of teachers' use of "focus questions" on students' knowledge structures and classroom teaching-learning process by re-analyzing selected data from a quasi-experimental pre-post video study (Wadouh, 2007). Focus questions are content-related anchoring questions highlighting the key content taught in…

As an instructional tool, models can transform the student experience from the static to the dynamic, the flat to the 3D, and the siloed to the integrated. Few practical resources exist to help instructors transition toward model-based classroom practices. The "Modeling in the Classroom" evidence-based teaching guide provides instructors…