Secondary School Biology Teachers Research Articles

‘The piece that we were looking for’: teachers' collaborative curriculum design for equity-centred biology units

ABSTRACT Critiques of current science education reforms call for science curricula that reflect expansive notions of equity in science teaching. This case study explores the experiences of two secondary-school biology teachers in the United States working as a Teacher-Design-Team (TDT) to centre equity through new curriculum materials that they co-designed. Four questions guided the study: (1) How did teachers centre equity in their curriculum design decisions and what concepts of equity did these decisions evoke? (2) How did teachers characterise their process for centring equity in the collaborative design of their biology units? (3) What do teachers describe as outcomes of their work? (4) What did teachers experience as supports – or challenges – in their efforts to design equity-centred units? Key findings include that a strong partnership and shared goals grounded in an equity framework catalysed the teachers’ work; teachers used an emergent ‘three-pronged approach’ to organise their unit planning; teachers’ centring of equity contained many facets; and teachers described multiple benefits from their TDT efforts, including greater job satisfaction and strengthened intention to remain in teaching. These findings have implications for future research and for practitioners who support the work of Teacher-Design-Teams (TDTs), particularly for science curriculum innovations that centre equity.

Enhancing Biology Teachers' Professional Development

The purpose of the study is to identify the necessary knowledge to be developed by biology teachers using the TPACK model for each of the five topics that are difficult to teach in Mongolian high schools. Five groups—“respiration,” “regulation of the living body,” “biotechnology, genetic engineering,” “enzymes,” and “immunity”—were selected as difficult groups for teaching according to the TPACK model. The study questioned 113 school biology teachers for content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technology content knowledge (TCK), and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). For each topic, TCK is the heaviest and CK the lightest compared to other types of knowledge for biology teachers. In terms of the correlation coefficient, for the groups, TCK and TPCK had the highest correlations. This research proposes the development of TCK and TPCK content modules for specific groups of secondary school biology teachers is crucial.

Impacts of Virtual and on-Site Mentoring on Instructional Delivery Effectiveness of Secondary School Biology Teachers in Ecology

Impacts of Virtual and on-Site Mentoring on Instructional Delivery Effectiveness of Secondary School Biology Teachers in Ecology

Exploring Gender Constructs: Colombian and Mexican Biology Teachers’ Perspectives

AbstractThe traditional relationship that has been constructed between gender and biological sex has been characterised by a mimetic perception between the two concepts, in which gender seems to reflect sex, or at least to be limited by it. This issue has given rise to reflections, questions and criticisms that try to identify how it is expressed in different social contexts, such as schools. In this sense, this research explores the views of secondary school biology teachers on the concepts of sex and gender. To this end, an exploratory qualitative study was carried out. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Colombian and Mexican teachers and interpreted using discourse analysis. It is concluded that there is a weak differentiation between the concepts of sex and gender, a perception of neutrality of school biology with regard to identity construction, and a deterministic perspective of biology with regard to gender.

The Impact of Open Educational Resources Based Professional Development on the Bhutanese Secondary Biology In-service and Pre-Service Teachers

This study examined the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) based professional development of secondary school biology teachers in Samtse Dzongkha in Bhutan. It highlights the importance of teaching and learning biology in secondary classrooms, emphasising its relevance to students' understanding of science, the environment, and their future academic and career choices. Recognising the challenges faced by teachers and students in biology education, STEM teacher educators from Samtse College of Education underwent professional development using OERs and online sessions facilitated by experts from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in India. These educators collaborated with peers from Tanzania, Nigeria, and TISS to develop six-week-long OERs on specific biology topics, which were then shared with selected in-service and pre-service biology teachers in Bhutan through Moodle platform. Additionally, an online Community of Practice (CoP) was established on Telegram to support the ongoing professional development. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, utilising pre and post-test scores, lesson plans, reflections, and interviews to assess the impact of the OERs on teachers. The CoP network was also analysed to understand communication patterns and knowledge sharing within the community. The results from pre-test and post-test assessments across these modules showcased marginal improvements in teachers' subject content knowledge. Detailed analysis of lesson plans and reflections revealed evolving proficiency in various pedagogical domains. Notably, many teachers sought technological integration, demonstrating an eagerness to utilize digital tools for enhancing student engagement. Despite these positive trends, a significant gap in high expertise levels among teachers was observed, particularly in the Genetics module. This hints at an underlying need for enriched professional development opportunities in specific content areas. Therefore, findings of this study concludes by recommending educational institutions to support continuous professional development for biology teachers through the integration of OERs, thereby improving the quality of biology education.

Checklist of pests and diseases of fruits and vegetables in Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon

Fruits and vegetables are an integral part of human diet attributed to their appealing flavour, taste, nutrients and health-promoting properties. However, in Cameroon, the agricultural system is constantly dealing with a decrease in fruit and vegetable yield due to diseases and pests’ infestation. The aim of this study was to identify diseases and pests of fruits and vegetables in farms and markets in Mezam Division. North West Region of Cameroon. A field survey was conducted in randomly selected farms in Mezam, Bamenda while a market survey was carried at Mile 3 Nkwen and the Bamenda food markets in December 2022 and January 2023 with the participation of secondary school Biology teachers as trainees. They were taught on the signs and symptoms of diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses on fruits and vegetables by plant pathologists while insect pests’ identification was taught by agriculture entomologists from the University of Bamenda. Pictures of infected vegetable and fruit parts were taken; host plant was identified and the pathogens causing disease was identified based on signs and symptoms and results presented on tables. Also, Infected vegetables and fruits samples were cultured in PDA and pure cultures were identified by use of cultural characters. Insect identification was done with the aid of photographs and by the use of a dichotomous key which was used to determine the orders of the different insect pests. High number of vegetables and fruits were found to be infected by fungi, bacterial and viral pathogens. The symptoms observed in farms and markets ranged from fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum on Passifora edulis, bacteria canker of Persea americana to leaf spot disease caused by Pleospora spp. on Talinum fruticosum. The insect pests identified were Dacus punctatifrons, Helicoverpa armigera, Podagrica spp., Bemisia tabaci and aphids. Some of these insect pests serve as vectors of plant diseases.

Influence of Dick and Carey instructional model on secondary school biology students’ performance in Katsina State, Nigeria

The focus of this research is on the impact of Dick and Carey instructional model on the performance of secondary school biology students in Katsina State, Nigeria. Gender was also considered in the study to see if the Dick and Carey model could improve performance in biology regardless of gender. The study used a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-test control groups. The study’s population consists of all senior secondary II (SSII) biology students in Katsina State. The study’s sample size is 140 SSII biology students. Purposive sampling was used to select four schools from the Funtua Educational Zone to participate in the study. Each school’s intact SSII class was used for the study. Two schools were assigned to experimental and control groups at random. The instruments for the study were Dick and Carey instructional model guide (DCIMG) and biology performance test (BPT). BPT was validated by experts from Usmanu Danfodiyo University’s biology department and experienced secondary school biology teachers. The split-half method yielded a reliability index of 0.71 for BPT. The study was guided by three null hypotheses, and the data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test analysis. The results showed that the experimental group treated with DCIMG outperformed the control group treated with the traditional method. Furthermore, gender has no effect on student performance in biology. Thus, it was recommended, among other things, that DCIMG be used in biology teaching regardless of gender, especially when dealing with difficult concepts in biology.

Mobile Augmented Reality in Biological Education: Perceptions of Austrian Secondary School Teachers

Today's teachers play a critical role in preparing students for the integration of educational technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), into their lessons. It is thought that AR implementation improves collaboration, motivation, and learning outcomes. Considering this, this study aims to determine the teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and obstacles of employing mobile AR applications (mAR) in their biology education, along with suggestions for practice, app developers, and policymakers. Therefore, a mixed-methods study was used to examine Austrian secondary school biology teachers’ opinions. A questionnaire containing open-ended and closed-ended questions was distributed to 35 teachers. Descriptive statistics were employed to process quantitative data, whereas grounded theory was utilized to process qualitative data. According to the findings, biology teachers likely utilize mAR apps to teach about human anatomy or to identify living things (e.g., plant determination). According to the teachers, mAR can improve students’ learning outcomes, motivation, and collaboration, and further their enthusiasm for learning biology. The main obstacles that teachers encounter whilst integrating mAR into their lessons are lack of technical devices, Internet issues, inconsistency with the curriculum, and questionable scientific accuracy of information. Despite the promising results, additional future studies with larger sample sizes are needed.

Upper Secondary School Science Teachers' Values in Sweden:

AbstractThere is a substantial literature in science education research showing that many students experience a lack of relevance in science education. For this reason, science teachers’ selection of content and the way content is treated when exposed to students for learning purposes is an important part of the problem. In this connection, research show that science teachers’ values strongly influence several aspects of teaching and learning science. Therefore, science teachers’ values are important to investigate, to be empirically informed and to be able to develop science education. Accordingly, there is an increased volume of research studies about teachers’ values in science education and their effects. The study presented here is part of a larger national exploration of biotechnology education in upper secondary schools in Sweden and contributes by showing variation in teachers’ values and relations with practice. Theoretically, the study is rooted in a philosophy of science recognizing the potential importance of teachers’ non-epistemic values. Empirically, it is based on surveyed upper secondary school biology teachers’ views of the importance of including value-laden topics in their science teaching. Their responses were analyzed by latent profile analysis and non-parametric testing, to assess the variation in their views and explore associations with several explanatory factors. The results show that the surveyed teachers could be divided into two distinct groups: one favoring inclusion of value-laden topics in their teaching and another (smaller group) opposed to it. The result also shows a variation in teachers’ selection of topics to teach and their teaching approach, as the former group were more inclined than the latter to include value-laden aspects in their teaching which contributes to the research literature. Furthermore, experienced science teachers were overrepresented in the group holding more negative views, a result not reported elsewhere in the research literature. The importance of the results is discussed in relation with the theoretical framing of non-epistemic values and points out the importance to further investigate underlying causes to science teachers’ expressed values and ways that they might vary temporally together with ways that they cluster, as they are shown to be grouped. The result is also discussed in relation with practice in being able to make use of the evidence to develop science education.

A Study on Assessment of Teaching and Learning Methods for Secondary School Biology Subject Content as an Approach to Addressing Environmental Degradation in Malawi. Case Study of Karonga District

The purpose of this study was on assessing of teaching and learning methods for secondary school biology subject content as an approach to addressing environmental degradation in Malawi. Case study of Karonga district. The study was guided by the following research specific objectives: to assess how success criteria in secondary school Biology syllabi are framed to address environmental degradation in Malawi; to investigate the appropriateness of the methods of teaching and learning Biology that address environmental degradation and to examine how Biology teachers assess students’ fieldwork that is required by the syllabus. A mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative methods) was used in this study. Sixty secondary school teachers were selected from 40 secondary schools in Northern Education Division in the Ministry of Education in Malawi as research participants. Schools and participants were selected through convenience and purposive sampling techniques respectively. In this study, data was collected through interviews, questionnaire and document analysis. Data analysis was done thematically and using statistics. The research study found out that the success criteria, content and teaching and learning methods in Biology would not address environmental degradation because success criteria were not framed well and had many action verbs such as ‘explain’, ‘describe’ and ‘state’. In addition, explanation was the main teaching and learning methods used by Secondary school Biology teachers which would not address environmental degradation since they did not encourage learning through practice, The findings also revealed that Biology teachers in secondary schools assessed learners with the aim of passing public examinations and not assisting learners to acquire skills to deal with issues of environmental degradation.

‘Are they walking their talk?’: alignment of teachers’ professed beliefs and enacted practices for teaching through dialogic argumentation

ABSTRACT This exploratory multiple-case study investigated the belief systems (professed and enacted) of four secondary school biology teachers towards teaching through dialogic argumentation. The constant comparison method was used to iteratively assess the qualitative data, which included classroom observations, field notes, transcripts of the formal and informal interviews and teachers’ reflections, and classroom video and audio recordings. Three themes emerged to represent the teachers’ belief systems for teaching through dialogic argumentation: 1) using ‘inter-language’; 2) scaffolding the negotiated consensus; and 3) ‘taking up’ and ‘referring back’ to students’ ideas. Moreover, two other interesting results were revealed. First, the study corroborates previous results which state that teachers’ intentions or predispositions in addition to their eagerness and willingness to use reform-based strategies pushed them towards successful implementation of their strategies for teaching through dialogic argumentation. Second, the strategies they implemented somehow revealed how they view dialogic argumentation as an approach to the co-construction of knowledge in science teaching and learning. The study offers implications for future professional development in terms of improving other aspects, such as teachers’ understanding of the advantages of reform-based strategies and constant mentoring which may also influence their intentions to achieve the curriculum goals.

Exploring secondary school biology teachers’ conceptions of scientific laws and methods

ABSTRACT The present study investigates how Greek in-service secondary education biology teachers understand the unique features of school biology and physics when considering the biological theoretical edifice and method. Our theoretical framework focuses on important differences that exist between the neo-Darwinian and Newtonian worldviews, while our methodology involves questionnaires and mainly individual interviews with fourteen (14) biology teachers. The study findings indicate that biology teachers encounter difficulties in unraveling the distinction between nomothetic and non-nomothetic natural sciences and in understanding the historical character of biology. They also emphasize the importance of scientific laws and experimentation when considering the epistemological features of biology, and the reason is that they reflect on the issue of what science or scientific knowledge is by simultaneously adopting two contradictory perspectives. On the one hand, they stress what a science should be if it is to be called ‘science’, and on the other hand, they focus on how a particular science, such as biology behaves. Unavoidably, a logical tension is created in their minds, and as a way of solving this tension, they view biology as being in a state of ongoing change towards an ideal, and, in many aspects, a positivistic pattern of science.

Secondary School Biology Teachers’ Social Awareness as Determinant of Students’ Performance in Minna, Niger State

The study investigated the relationship between Biology teachers’ Social awareness and secondary school Biology students’ performance in Minna, Niger State. The study adopted a correlational research design and was guided by one research question. A total of 105 Biology teachers and 520 Biology students formed the sample that was used for the study. The study focused on Social awareness which is one of the constructs of emotional intelligence. The instrument used for data collection from the Biology teachers was the researchers’ structured questionnaire titled Biology Teachers’ Social awareness Questionnaire (BIOSSEQ). The instrument was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach alpha method, in which a reliability coefficient of .76 was obtained. Descriptive statistics, namely, mean and standard deviation with scatter plots were used to answer the research questions. Results of the study revealed a positive relationship between Biology teachers’ Social awareness and students’ performance in Biology. The researchers recommended among others that teachers’ Social awareness should be monitored via periodic appraisal and be improved via counselling services in secondary schools as it is evident that Social awareness of teachers influences students’ performance in Biology.

A study on assessment of teaching and learning methods for secondary school biology subject content as an approach to addressing environmental degradation in Malawi: A case study of Karonga district

The purpose of this study was to assess teaching and learning methods for the secondary school biology subject content as an approach to addressing environmental degradation in Malawi. The study was guided by specific research objectives, such as assessing how success criteria in secondary school biology syllabi are framed to address environmental degradation in Malawi, investigating the appropriateness of the methods of teaching and learning biology that address environmental degradation, and examining how biology teachers assess students' fieldwork required by the syllabus. A mixed-methods approach was used in this study. Sixty secondary school teachers were selected from 40 secondary schools in the Northern Education Division of the Ministry of Education in Malawi as research participants. Schools and participants were selected through convenience and purposive sampling techniques, respectively. In this study, data were collected through interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Data analysis was done thematically and using statistics. The research study found that the success criteria, content, and teaching and learning methods in biology would not address environmental degradation because the success criteria were not framed well and had many action verbs such as "explain," "describe," and "state." Additionally, explanation was the main teaching and learning method used by secondary school biology teachers, which would not address environmental degradation since it did not encourage learning through practice. The findings also revealed that biology teachers in secondary schools assessed learners with the aim of passing public examinations and did not assist learners in acquiring skills to deal with issues of environmental degradation.

Scientific practices of secondary school biology teachers

The aim of the current research is to identify the scientific practices of biology teachers at the secondary stage. To achieve this goal, the researcher used the descriptive approach, and built a scale for the scientific practices of biology teachers, where the scale consisted in its final form of (40) items, and the research applied the scale to a sample formed Out of (200) members of biology teachers for the secondary stage of schools affiliated with the General Directorate of Al-Qadisiyah Education. The results of the research showed that the study sample (teachers) utilize scientific practices, and a statistically significant difference was found between male and female teachers in scientific practices in favor of males who have experience ranging from ( 6-10) years. As for females the experience was ranging from (6-10).

Zambian Secondary School Biology Teachers’ Profiles of Planned Topic-specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Respiration

Teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has the potential to influence lesson planning, teaching and students’ academic performance in science. Since PCK is embodied in lesson planning (as planned PCK), this study employed the multiple-case design to describe in-depth the biology teachers’ profiles of planned topic-specific PCK (plTSPCK) for teaching respiration. While the target population comprised all biology teachers in Chipata district of Zambia, data were collected from nine teachers drawn from six secondary schools. The study used face-to-face lesson planning interviews which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Mavhunga and Rollnick’s model of TSPCK was adopted as the analytical framework. After analysing each interview transcript, the teachers’ integration of plTSPCK components was summarised into plTSPCK maps. The findings reveal that (a) the integration of the plTSPCK components in the teachers’ profiles was idiosyncratic; (b) the components conceptual teaching strategies, curricular saliency and students’ prior knowledge were central to the integration of plTSPCK; and (c) representations and what makes the topic easy/difficult were the least integrated components. The study recommends enhancing teachers’ PCK through teacher professional development activities such as lesson studies using the TSPCK framework as an analysis tool for the lesson plans and the observed lesson to demonstrate the planned and enacted PCK respectively.

高等学校生物教員が選んだ『生物基礎』の重要用語に関する考察

高等学校生物教員が選んだ『生物基礎』の重要用語に関する考察

THE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ETHIOPIA: HULET EJU ENESIE WOREDA

This study was examined secondary school teachers’ instructional practices by using First Principle of Instruction model as guiding principle. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The total populations of the study were 52. From these 40 Biology teachers, 4 directors, 4 supervisors and 4 department heads were selected through comprehensive sampling technique. Data were obtained through questionnaire, interview, classroom observation and document analysis. Various statistical tools such as mean, frequency and percentage were applied to analyze the data. The finding indicated that secondary school Biology teachers design their lessons by using First Principle of Instruction Model and they practiced it partially. And biology teacher’s instructional practices are aligned partially with First Principle of Instructional Model. Some factors that affect the design and implementation of the lessons based on the First Principle of Instruction model were identified: teachers’ related problems, students related problems, time constraints, policy issues, and resources. Based on the finding, it is recommended that woreda education office and general secondary schools should have to prepare short- and long-term training, seminars and workshop for teachers. Secondary school directors and supervisors should help teachers to have personal, professional knowledge and pedagogical skill. They should also support them by creating good educational environment.

Teacher Education and Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study with Future Biology Teachers in an Angolan Higher Education Institution

National education policies are increasingly regulated by international agendas, for example the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SD). However, in order to put such policies into practice, social actors like teachers and teacher educators must include them in their practices. In this context, this study stems from the following research question: how does initial teacher education (ITE) promote the SD Agendas (2030 and 2063 for Africa)? The approach to this question is carried out through a case study focused on an Angolan teacher education higher education institution, in its graduate course for future secondary school biology teachers. The main aims of this study are (i) to characterize how ITE includes SD and (ii) to suggest ways to improve SD, particularly focusing on students’ future professional needs. Data were gathered from document analysis (the pedagogical curriculum plan of the course; titles and abstracts of final-year future biology teachers’ essays) and an interview with the course director of the biology teaching program of the Angolan institution. Content analysis of the gathered evidence was based on a three-dimensional framework: (a) SD goals (SDG) and the curriculum; (b) teacher education principles; and (c) current Angolan curricular perspectives. Results show that although the Pedagogical curriculum plan and the formative path, from the interviewee’s point of view, do not explicitly integrate SDG and its challenges for biology ITE, the majority of essays analyzed are locally contextualized and in a number of cases articulated with some of the 17 SDG. Suggestions for inclusion of SDG in ITE and for teacher education research are put forward.

Exploring Secondary School Biology Teachers’ Competency in Practical Work

A competent biology educator should be efficient in the design, organizing, and execution of practical work and the evaluation of practical skills. Nevertheless, according to past research, the participation of students in conducting experiments is inadequate, and the teachers are not guiding them effectively. One of the issues that could lead to this problem is the lack of efficiency of the teacher to carry out practical work. To gauge this problem, a qualitative study has been conducted. The study involves eight biology teachers from eight secondary schools in two states in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Data were collected through observation at biology laboratory, interviews with biology teachers, and analysis of related documents such as lesson plans. Collected data were analyzed using constant comparative data analysis methods to explain the core phenomenon of this study. Three (3) themes emerged in this study: (i) difficulty in designing and planning practical lessons effectively, (ii) insufficient preparation before conducting practical lessons and (iii) improper evaluation of students’ achievement in biology practical lessons. The results of this study offer information on the competence of biology teachers, which can be used to enhance the quality and standards of biology teaching and learning.