With biodiversity loss as one of today's most pressing global problems, it is crucial to raise public recognition of this crisis and promote acceptance of conservation efforts. Plants, which typically struggle with low awareness ('plant blindness') and less emotional connection than animals with humans, are facing a special challenge. Promoting…

As some misconceptions remain persistent, comforting and highly resistant to change, it is imperative to use methods and strategies that are centred around students' abilities, interests and needs to address those misconceptions. This study investigates the appropriateness of using 'concept cartoons' to address misconceptions held by forty grade 9…

Plants are crucial parts of ecosystems but are traditionally considered boring and difficult by students. It is therefore not clear whether factual knowledge about plants contributes to building positive attitudes and interest in botany. We investigated whether factual knowledge about monocotyledonous plants is associated with secondary students'…

Botany is traditionally viewed as less attractive than zoology for students, despite the fact that plants play a key role in natural ecosystems. It is hypothesized that survival-relevant information may enhance learner's attention and that this information might be better remembered than others. Additionally, the use of the PowerPoint (PPT)…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of authentically based instruction using the 5E model as the structure for lesson delivery on student emotions and the extent to which the students perceived that the teacher was facilitating mastery goals. Participants were 241 sophomore and junior biology students in three urban high schools in…

The study examines the interests and attitudes of school students toward biology: through their interest in out-of-school activities and their attitude towards lessons as measured by interest, importance and difficulty. Biology lessons were relatively popular with the greatest preference found among students learning zoology. Girls showed…