Assessment for learning (AfL) and differentiated instruction (DI) both imply a focus on learning processes and affect student learning positively. However, both AfL and DI prove to be difficult to implement for teachers. Two chemistry and two physics teachers were studied when designing and implementing the formative assessment of conceptual…

In this study we investigated how a theoretical framework we developed for making differentiated instruction practical worked out in a trajectory (1 year, 5 sessions) that aimed to support 5 secondary biology teachers in designing differentiated instruction practices. The key feature of the framework is the development of cost-effective…

In his article "Principled Practical Knowledge: Not a Bridge but a Ladder," Carl Bereiter (2014) argues that theoretical knowledge is too shallow to support the generation of innovative learning activities. He makes a case for principled practical knowledge (PPK)--"principled know-how and know-why"--to fulfill this practical…

Background/Context: A fundamental tension has long existed between school reform proposals and actual teaching practice. Despite a large literature on teacher change, the discontinuity between innovation and practice continues and many attempts to reform teaching fail to be enacted in most classrooms. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of…

Amid calls for more practice-based teacher education, this article presents a concrete illustration of a practice-based bridging strategy for preparing high school biology teachers to enact open-inquiry labs. Open-inquiry labs were considered a core practice frame that served as a context for identifying core practices and for giving coherence to…

According to a century-old tradition in biological thinking, organisms can be considered as being optimally designed. In modern biology this idea still has great heuristic value. In evolutionary biology a so-called design heuristic has been formulated which provides guidance to researchers in the generation of knowledge about biological systems.…