Systems thinking is a powerful concept in biology which can help students understand how the diversity of contexts in the biology curriculum all have similar underlying characteristics. However, it is not currently a common feature in secondary education as it is not part of the National Curriculum of England. Research on systems thinking has…

When engineering students are unable to evaluate the validity of their solutions, they are unprepared to solve complex, real-world engineering problems that require decomposition or knowledge transfer. A proper framework is key to successful implementation and can encourage more institutions to adopt problem-solving engineering labs. This paper…

This empirical study investigates the main features of curricula and contexts that favor or hinder the process of transfer of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) from the designers' original situation to a host one. The specific research questions addressed were (RQ1) what were the changes made during the process of transfer in the new context?…

The physiology core concepts are designed to guide instructors in undergraduate physiology courses. However, although past work has characterized the alignment of physiology programs with the core concepts, it is unclear to what extent these core concepts have influenced instructors' pedagogical decisions or how represented these core concepts are…

This study investigates the challenge faced by eighth-grade students at Southern State Middle School in grasping abstract concepts within the domains of physical science, physics, and chemistry. This difficulty is manifested in their poor performance on summative assessments. A comprehensive analysis of state-provided data, in conjunction with…

Computational thinking is an essential skill in the modern global workforce. The current public health crisis has highlighted the need for students and educators to have a deeper understanding of epidemiology. While existing STEM curricula has addressed these topics in the past, current events present an opportunity for new curricula that can be…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] A level of curricular design, called "design tactics," is identified to fill a gap in the research literature between the broad principles that guide curriculum development and the detailed writing of specific activities and lessons. The use of…

Flipped instruction is not new and the literature is extensive with examples of flipped courses. However, there is a lack of studies with a structured, methodical approach to flipped design, implementation, and evaluation of its effectiveness. An upper division geology course was flipped to allow focus on higher-level concepts, especially…

Threshold concepts are fundamental to a discipline and, once understood, transform students' understanding and perception of the subject. Despite the value of threshold concepts as a learning "portal" for heuristic purposes, there is limited empirical evidence of threshold crossing or achieving mastery. As a threshold concept, biological…

Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships (STSPs) provide opportunities for students and teachers to participate in citizen science and engage with scientific concepts and practices, thereby bridging school learning with issues of importance to society, such as climate change. But STSPs require partners to cross boundaries between the cultures of…

The research reported on here is part of a larger study exploring the alignment of the intended, implemented and attained curriculum with regard to practical work in the Zimbabwean A-level Biology curriculum. In this paper we focus on the alignment between the intended and implemented A-Level Biology curriculum through the lens of teachers'…

Research on teacher educators' professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting "teacher" learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of "teacher educators." In this…

The Green Ninja Film Academy (GENIE) is an interdisciplinary curriculum development project that examines the efficacy of combining climate science concepts and practices with digital storytelling for middle school youth. We present findings from iterative enactments of this design-based research project in 2017 (N = 296) and 2018 (N = 539). On…

Crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are superordinate in the scientific concept system, common across disciplines, and very abstract. These characteristics, with the addition of incoherence in their curricular presentation, can challenge instructors. We designed a modular course based on coherence and conceptual understanding. The course structure was…

Immune literacy--the ability to hear, learn, read, write, explain, and discuss immunological content with varied audiences--has become critically important in recent years. Yet, with its complex terminology and discipline-specific concepts, educating individuals about the immune system and its role in health and disease may seem daunting. Here, we…