Plant awareness disparity (PAD, formerly plant blindness) is the idea that students tend not to notice or appreciate the plants in their environment. This phenomenon often leads to naïve points of view, such as plants are not important or do not do anything for humans. There are four components of PAD: attitude (not liking plants), attention (not…

Teacher persistence has been a growing issue in recent decades. This raises the problem of the sustainability of the teaching workforce, the professionalism of working teachers and preserving the quality of education. In this study we aim to create and test an empirical model that makes it possible to predict teachers' plans to remain in or leave…

Comparative studies on science curricula provide insights into educational standards worldwide. Accordingly, in this study, we analysed the intended curricula of mathematics and science subjects of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland and Slovenia by comparing their lower secondary (ISCED 2) National Curriculum Documents on mathematics, physics,…

The California Blackworm ("Lumbriculus variegatus") is a freshwater segmented worm species that has been used by biology instructors as a model system for inquiry-based student investigations. The blackworm dorsal blood vessel pulsation rate is easily quantified. Moreover, this species can facilitate the study of neuromuscular…

Problem solving plays an essential role in all scientific disciplines, and solving problems can reveal essential concepts that underlie those disciplines. Thus, problem solving serves both as a common tool and desired outcome in many science classes. Research on teaching problem solving offers principles for instruction that are guided by learning…

Biological psychiatry, like many other scientific fields, is grappling with the challenge of revising its practices with an eye towards promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI). One arena in which much of this work will have significant impact is in developmental science generally, and the study of adolescence specifically. Adolescence…

In this small scale study in higher education, a good educational practice on the teaching of Bioethics based on transformative learning and accomplished by debates is presented. The research was carried out in June 2016 at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece and it includes the assessment of…

Programs in bioinformatics, offered in many academic institutes, are assumed to expand women's representation in computer science (CS). Women's enrolment in these programs is high. Our questions are: Do these programs attract different women from those attracted to CS programs? What factors underlie women's decision to enroll in bioinformatics…

Cognitive scientists and psychology researchers have given growing attention to evidence of the testing effect, that is, the improvement of students' recall through memory-retrieval practice in the form of quizzes and exams. While laboratory experiments consistently show dramatic positive effects on learning through the testing effect,…

Because the escalating loss of species is one of the most serious environmental crises we face, it is vital that students of biology comprehend and can communicate the roles that biodiversity plays in the functioning of ecosystems. Here, we report on a laboratory experiment that has been highly successful in our introductory biology courses at…

Many undergraduate students pursuing life science majors are not aware of job options outside of medicine and academic research, because many departments stress these as the only primary career pathways. In addition, biology students often do not have many opportunities to develop their science communication and presentation skills due to the…

The instructors of four biology-related courses at a Canadian university integrated Labster virtual labs in their courses as a pre-lab activity, lecture substitute, or to provide lab experience in courses with no on-site labs. The instructors used a backward design approach to align the labs with the learning objectives of their courses and to…

As higher education transitions from an exclusivist to a more accessible endeavour, class sizes are continuously increasing, prompting academics to explore different strategies to facilitate quality learning. In this paper, we explore the current practices of Australian biochemistry and molecular biology academics to understand how academics cope…

Our collaborative action research addresses a challenge in initial teacher education pertaining to the lack of theoretical coherence between teacher candidates' understandings of teaching and learning. The group comprised of three science teacher candidates (Authors 2 and 3) and a university faculty member (Author 1). Through a loosely adapted…

Visuo-semiotic models, such as Lewis structures and ball & stick models, are widely used to enhance students' learning. However, there is limited research about the impact of these models on specific visuo-semiotic reasoning skills. In the current research, we aimed to determine the extent to which physical molecular models could enhance…