Some Observations on Biology Teachers and Teaching

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Perhaps the past two decades have witnessed more significant discoveries in than the previous century. Since the 1940s, this rapid change has been accompanied by a very serious effort to improve the communication of biological knowledge to the student. In fact, the advance in methods for transferring modem biological knowledge from the researcher's desk to the student's mind may be as remarkable a development as those emanating from the laboratories of the research scientists themselves. Hurd (1) points out many trends in the recent teaching of biology; he analyzes the decade of 1950-1960 as a period of intensive post-mortems over the past of the teaching of During the 1950's, extensive recommendations and planning for the future of the teaching of occurred. But by and large, action programs involving real change in the classroom teaching of and in the education of teachers is a phenomenon of the sixties. In this decade, one not only observes development of experimental classroom materials but, also an increasing number of experimenters trying out techniques and some older untested techniques on teaching of Thus, the 1950's saw much discussion of teaching, but the 1960's is a period of action, a period of deep-seated change. Why has it taken so long for intensive and extensive experimentation in the teaching of to develop? I think the main reason is because the many and varied professionals required for such an effort became willing to cooperate, and the funds needed have become available. This job has required knowledgeable professionals from the secondary schools, research laboratories, college classrooms, schools of education, testing services, etc. The effort is now bearing fruit. The cooperation of diverse groups seems destined to continue, and recent legislation by the 89th Congress points toward continued financial support for research in education. Enough has been written about the stu-ident and teacner materials prepared by the BSCS over the past six years so that further discussion here would belabor the point. New student materials prepared under other auspices are beginning to reflect some of these emphases. This kind of for high school students has created problems for the teachers. The new biology can be handled adequately in the classroom only by highly skilled, teachers of More than ever before, the successful purveyor of needs a thorough training in and how is taught. Furthermore, the teachers of today and of the future must be prepared to continue learning and experimenting for the improvement of teaclhing. The modern teacher of is accepting this challenge. He is thinking beyond those planners who would place a premium on mediocrity in his profession. hliose schemes of teacher certification which recognize the lowest comr.mon denominators of competence in designating qualified teachers are totally inadequate for the ermerging teacher of There is clearly a trend towards greater competence, a trend which will certainly continue. Competent teachers of will force the teaching of the subject toward a level which will be unattainable by the non-professional. The day of ultimate achievement is still distant, but the trend is firmly established. At this point, it would be well to say what is meant by the term professional teacher of biology. For purposes of this discussion, professionals are people who have demonstrated a thorough understanding of what they are doing. Thus, the teacher teaches Since the teacher teaches, he must thoroughly understand what a teacher does; and since he teaches biology, he must also understand what is about. It is obvious that the teacher must be an unusually competent person with training and