Research-based digital games hold great potential to be effective tools in supporting next-generation science learning. However, as with all instructional materials, teachers significantly influence their implementation and contribute to their effectiveness. To more fully understand the contributions and challenges of teacher implementation of…

Three college faculty taught large general biology classes using case studies and personal response systems (clickers). Each instructor taught the same eight cases in two different sections, except the questions within the cases differed. In one section the questions were lower order (LO) factual inquiries, and in the other they were largely…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on learning, attitudes, and costs in a redesigned general education undergraduate biology course that implemented web-based virtual labs (VLs) to replace traditional physical labs (PLs). Over an academic year, two new modes of VL instruction were compared to the traditional PL offering: (1) all…

Traditional lecturing has been shown again and again to be a less effective teaching method regarding student engagement and promotion in the sciences. Studies that compare different teaching methods often face limitations because, over time, courses are either substantially changed and/or are taught by different instructors. This article presents…

College instructors often teach scientific thinking by asking students to review and analyze a primary research article. The main purpose of this study was to explore how classroom response systems (CRS) could help impact the quality of written analysis papers submitted for this assignment by students taking 100-level biology courses at a…

Meta-analyses of active-learning research consistently show that active-learning techniques result in greater student performance than traditional lecture-based courses. However, some individual studies show no effect of active-learning interventions. This may be due to inexperienced implementation of active learning. To minimize the effect of…

Traditional lectures have come under increasing criticism as research indicates lectures may be less effective in achieving learning outcomes than other teaching methods. Student engagement and success can potentially be improved by changing traditional lectures to instructional methods using active learning techniques. Active learning refers to…

We investigated some of the key features of effective active learning by comparing the outcomes of three different methods of implementing active-learning exercises in a majors introductory biology course. Students completed activities in one of three treatments: discussion, writing, and discussion + writing. Treatments were rotated weekly between…

The aim of the present study is to support, enrich, and broaden the process of education using concept maps and to determine the effects of concept maps in biology classes on school success, attitude and retention of the knowledge taught. The present study was conducted as an experimental study with pre-test and post-test control groups. The…

This research investigates the effectiveness of integrating Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) into the junior high school biology teaching. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design and divides the participating students into the conventional ICT-integrated learning environment and IWB-integrated learning environment. Before teaching, students…

Student attitudes toward science and content achievements were examined in three secondary Biology I classrooms using an environmentally place-based curriculum as well as a traditional curriculum. Student attitudes were measured using Likert-scale science attitude surveys administered at the beginning of the school year and once again following…

This study investigated the effects of computer assisted instruction (CAI) on secondary school students' performance in biology. Also, the influence of gender on the performance of students exposed to CAI in individualised or cooperative learning settings package was examined. The research was a quasi experimental involving a 3 x 2 factorial…

Fieldwork is generally considered an essential aspect of teaching and learning about biology, at both school and university level. However, previous research suggests that the novelty of being in an unfamiliar field environment can negatively, as well as positively, impact on the student experience and learning. This research uses the framework of…

This study examined comparability of student scores obtained from computerized and paper-and-pencil formats of the large-scale statewide end-of-course (EOC) examinations in the two subject areas of Algebra and Biology. Evidence in support of comparability of computerized and paper-based tests was sought by examining scale scores, item parameter…

In a third study of the Computer Aided Learning (CAL) system of the London Borough of Havering, England, the performance of students taught biology by a teacher using the CAL system was compared with that of students taught by the same teacher without the CAL system. Students were divided into two matched groups and compared using a…