The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for analyzing classroom argumentation that includes a process of rebutting. A most commonly used framework to analyze argument in science education is Toulmin's Argumentation Pattern. It is useful for analyzing argumentation but it cannot represent the complexity of students' rebuttals during…

Textbooks can have a fundamental and positive effect on both learning and teaching. As such, in order to understand how students structure concepts in their minds, it is necessary to analyze the structure in which those concepts presented in textbooks are described. This study examined a network of concepts used in the domain of biotechnology in…

The rapid developments in biotechnology and its implications raise moral dilemmas for individuals and society. Therefore, bioethics education at all levels is necessary. Science teachers should inculcate moral values and ethics among students. However, studies on various aspects of curriculum-oriented moral education remain lacking, despite the…

The use of a molecular viewer to visualize proteins has become more prevalent in high schools in recent years. We relied on the foundations of two theoretical frameworks to analyze questions in two learning tasks designed for 10th- to 12th-grade biotechnology majors that make use of Jmol. The two theoretical frameworks were: (i) classification of…

Concerns about public understanding of biotechnology have motivated educational initiatives to improve students' competency to make scientifically sustained decisions regarding controversial issues. Understanding students' perceptions about biotechnology is essential to determine the effectiveness of these programmes. To assess how students'…

Our research objective focused on examining the instructional efficiency of tutoring as a form of instructional change as opposed to a non-tutoring approach in an outreach laboratory. We designed our laboratory based on cognitive load (CL) theory. Altogether, 269 twelfth-graders participated in our day-long module "Genetic Fingerprinting." In a…

The importance of biotechnology education at the high-school level has been recognized in a number of international curriculum frameworks around the world. One of the most problematic issues in learning biotechnology has been found to be the biotechnological methods involved. Here, we examine the unique contribution of an animation of the…

While genetics has remained as one key topic in school science, it continues to be conceptually and linguistically difficult for students with the concomitant debates as to what should be taught in the age of biotechnology. This article documents the development and implementation of a two-tier multiple-choice instrument for diagnosing grades 10…

The aim of this research was to explore Australian high-school students' argumentation and informal reasoning about biotechnology. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 10 Year-8 students (12-13 years old), 14 Year-10 students (14-15 years old) and 6 Year-12 students (16-17 years old) from six metropolitan high schools in Perth,…

Teaching nonscience majors topics in biotechnology through case studies is the focus of this research. Our "Biotechnology, Environment, and Related Issues" module, developed within the "Science for All" framework, is aimed at elevating the level of students' scientific and technological literacy and their higher order thinking…