BSCS Biology Research Articles

Evolutionary Medicine – A Great Way to Teach Biology

Great teaching is often all about the questions posed to students. When learners get their teeth into an interesting question, they grow as they chew on it. As physicians, we have discovered that disease makes more sense if you ask evolutionary questions, and these questions make a great starting point for science education. One of Darwin's two main questions was how species are related to each other. His answer was that all organisms have common ancestors. This is the foundation for studies of phylogeny. To teach phylogenetic trees, you can use canids or birds, but students are particularly interested if they are tracing the origins of HIV or tuberculosis, or the history of human traits, such as the appendix. Darwin's other question was about why bodies work so well. His answer was natural selection. The characteristics of individuals who have more offspring than others become more common over the generations. This explains why kidneys, hearts, eyes, and brains are so astoundingly well suited to their purposes. As physicians, we constantly confront a very different question. If natural selection is so …

BSCS 生物教科書 A Human Approach における生態学カリキュラムの特質

BSCS 生物教科書 A Human Approach における生態学カリキュラムの特質

A Reflection of Biological Education in the United States

This issue concludes the NABT’s celebration of its 75th Anniversary. Since my term as ABT editor will also be over at the end of this year, this will be one of my last official opportunities to share my ideas about biology education. First I will tell you a little about myself, and then I will share some reflections on biology education past, present, and future. I was always interested in a career in teaching, and biology was my favorite subject. During my senior year in college as a pre-med biology major, I was sent a military draft notice. The draft board gave me three choices: (a) graduate, and we send you to OCS and you will go to Vietnam; (b) graduate and go to med school; when you finish you will go to Vietnam, as we need physicians badly; or (c) get certified to teach secondary science as a critical industry, and you are deferred indefinitely. The decision was a no-brainer. I began a 12-year career teaching high school biology in San Jose, California, the next year. My classroom curriculum emphasized evolution, ecology, genetics, and the human body. My students said that all I ever emphasized was sex and evolution. Well, why not? I also taught about every science except physics, and my favorite class was a six-week summer session in field ecology with lots of field trips. After teaching biology for just a few years in the late 1960s, I attended an NABT Convention in San Francisco. One of the featured sessions was a debate over evolution versus creation. Speakers on the evolution side included none other than Theodosius Dobzhansky, who made his now famous statement, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” The creation side was represented by Duane Gish from the Creation Research …

Analysis of Five High School Biology Textbooks Used in the United States for Inclusion of the Nature of Science

Five high school biology textbooks were examined to determine the inclusion of four aspects of the nature of science: (a) science as a body of knowledge, (b) science as a way of investigating, (c) science as a way of thinking, and (d) science and its interactions with technology and society. The textbooks analyzed were BSCS Biology—A Human Approach (Kendall/Hunt), BSCS Biology—An Ecological Approach (Kendall/Hunt), Biology—The Dynamics of Life (Glencoe), Modern Biology (Holt), and Prentice Hall Biology (Prentice Hall). The same six chapters or sections were analyzed in each textbook, which were the methods of science, cells, heredity, DNA, evolution, and ecology. A scoring procedure was used that resulted, for the most part, in good intercoder agreement with Cohen’s kappa values ranging from 0.36–1.00. The five recently published biology textbooks in the United States have a better balance of presenting biology with respect to the four themes of science literacy used in this research than those analyzed 15 years ago, especially with regard to devoting more text to engaging students in finding out answers, gathering information, and learning how scientists go about their work. Therefore, these biology textbooks are incorporating national science education reform guides that recommend a more authentic view of the scientific enterprise than similar textbooks used 15 years ago.

BSCS Biology: A Human Approach & Insights in Biology: Curriculum Responses to Calls for Biology Education Reform

T HE United States is, once again, in the midst of a movement to reform science education, and diverse interest groups are making clear their concerns about the outcome of this effort. Politicians and business leaders would like the United States to be first in the world in science and technology. Educators and scientists would like to develop a scientifically literate population and to broaden the training of young people entering scientific careers (AAAS 1989; Moffat 1995). Teachers and students would like a meaningful curriculum, one that is relevant to lives in the 21st century. To some degree, success in attaining all of these goals depends on the quality of curriculum materials used by students.

Personal/Professional Characteristics and Teachers' Attitudes about Science

cience teaching in the junior and senior high school has undergone many changes in the last decade. Now with the Back to Basics movement gaining momentum, it is undergoing additional changes and emphasis. New science curricula have been developed and implemented in the classroom. These involve junior high school curricula such as Introductory Physical Science Program (IPS), Physical Science Study Committee Program (PSSC), and Earth Science Curriculum Project (ESCP), as well as senior high curricula such as BSCS biology, CHEMS chemistry, and Project Physics. They also include many modern textbookbased programs that have been influenced by the latest curricular innovations.

An Individualized Approach to BSCS Biology

An Individualized Approach to BSCS Biology

Examination of bscs biology and nonbiology students' ecology comprehension, environmental information level, and environmental attitude

Examination of bscs biology and nonbiology students' ecology comprehension, environmental information level, and environmental attitude

Comment on “an analysis of student outcomes utilizing two approaches in teaching bscs biology”

Comment on “an analysis of student outcomes utilizing two approaches in teaching bscs biology”

Adaptations of BSCS Biology throughout the World

Research Article| December 01 1974 Adaptations of BSCS Biology throughout the World William V. Mayer William V. Mayer Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (1974) 36 (9): 543–561. https://doi.org/10.2307/4444989 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation William V. Mayer; Adaptations of BSCS Biology throughout the World. The American Biology Teacher 1 December 1974; 36 (9): 543–561. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/4444989 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1974 National Association of Biology Teachers Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Advanced Biology as an Introduction to Science Careers

ADVANCED BIOLOGY HAS BEEN PART of the curriculum of many secondary schools for more than a decade. In most instances it was introduced to provide interested and capable students with a more thorough investigation of the traditional topics discussed in the BSCS or Modern Biology courses. However, advanced biology can also be an exciting vehicle for introducing students to career opportunities in science and in science-related occupations. At Winston Churchill High School, in Potomac, Md., we are attempting to provide students with greater insight into science-related careers. The field of biology becomes more encompassing each year, and many high-school seniors are unaware of the opportunities available to them. Most students who elect advanced biology do so because they have enjoyed science courses in general and biology courses in particular. The advanced-biology enrollment has

The Israeli “Bagrut” examination in BSCS biology

AbstractThis paper describes the rationale, construction, administration, and analysis of an externally set matriculation examination for BSCS students at the end of the 12th grade. The examination consisted of three equal parts: (1) functional information; (2) identification and application of principles; and (3) contributory mode understanding of the principles of biological enquiry.The predetermined difficulty level proved to be only slightly overambitious, so that individual means had to be only slightly adjusted in order to meet the national norms.Diagnosed deficiencies were concentrated mainly in the spheres of statistical treatment of experimental data, suggestions for technical arrangements of the experimental set‐up, and replications of the experiment.Hope was expressed, that the continued use of an examination of this type, would help to eliminate the discrepancy between objectives emphasized by school teachers and those stressed by the BSCS examination (illustrated by the very low correlation between teachers' grades and results on this examination).

A comparison of the ideological orientations and personality characteristics of teacher “acceptors” and “rejectors” of BSCS biology

A comparison of the ideological orientations and personality characteristics of teacher “acceptors” and “rejectors” of BSCS biology

IPS as Preparation for BSCS Biology

IPS as Preparation for BSCS Biology

The Pupil—The Teacher—and The Teacher's Image (Some Second Thoughts on BSCS—Biology in Israel)

The Pupil—The Teacher—and The Teacher's Image (Some Second Thoughts on BSCS—Biology in Israel)

Individualized vs. Group Teaching of BSCS Biology

Individualized vs. Group Teaching of BSCS Biology

An analysis of student outcomes utilizing two approaches to teaching BSCS biology

An analysis of student outcomes utilizing two approaches to teaching BSCS biology

A Comparative Study of Student Attitudes Toward Science and the Ability of the Teacher to Make Material Understandable in Individualized and Group Approaches to BSCS Biology

A Comparative Study of Student Attitudes Toward Science and the Ability of the Teacher to Make Material Understandable in Individualized and Group Approaches to BSCS Biology

Individualization of Instruction for the Introductory Biology Course

valid complaint. It is also a situation which many professors bemoan but shrug off with mumbles to the effect that they are helpless to do anything about it. It is one of the many areas of teaching which everyone talks about, but not many try to do anything about. In a large freshman biology course (500 students) for nonscience majors at the University of Colorado, we are making attempts to individualize instruction and to fit it more closely to the individual student's background and interests. With many high schools now giving good BSCS biology programs, many students attending the University have completed 2 years of high school biology. On the other hand, many students in attendance have never studied

Status of BSCS Biology in Kansas, 1967-1968

The present study was designed to determine the extent to which BSCS biology has become accepted and incorporated into the science curricula of the state of Kansas. The study includes four broad areas of concern to teachers and curriculum planners: (1) usage of BSCS material, (2) teaching facilities and conditions, (3) teacher training and experience, and (4) teacher opinions as to the comparative value of BSCS to other biology offerings, and student difficulties. A questionnaire designed to obtain data concerning the four areas was sent to each of the 568 public school biology teachers in Kansas in February, 1968. Of this number, 442 (77%) returned the questionnaire.