top of page
Search


What the variation theory (of learning) is and isn't. A brief introduction.
The variation theory of learning is a theory about how we learn and, therefore, how to teach. It isn't a theory of how memories are...
Christian Moore Anderson
Sep 21, 20235 min read
1,891


How I teach population size controls with a model
After reading about stock and flow diagrams in my book, many people have asked for more details about how I actually go about building...
Christian Moore Anderson
Sep 8, 20238 min read
516


Why endothermy should be an explicit part of the biology curriculum
During my training year I had to teach a Year 8 class (12 year-olds) the physics topic of heat. I began with a common question for the...
Christian Moore Anderson
Aug 29, 20233 min read
113


My thoughts on the new IB Biology syllabus—plus some free resources
Summer is ending and the new syllabus is rolling out. I just spent a few months developing my resources for the entire course and I want...
Christian Moore Anderson
Aug 25, 20236 min read
2,917


The ups & downs of retrieval practice: my experience
For years I've toiled with quiz questions in my biology courses (AKA core questions). I've used quiz questions as starter quizzes, to...
Christian Moore Anderson
Aug 7, 20238 min read
2,304


Subject Knowledge: Great books for biology teachers
There is only one short cut to improving subject knowledge—reading great books. In this post I compile a selection of the books that have...
Christian Moore Anderson
Jun 19, 20233 min read
985


How I introduce the digestive system
In my view, the teaching of the digestive system isn't just another topic of here's how the body works , but another opportunity to...
Christian Moore Anderson
Apr 28, 20233 min read
1,135


Biology Made Real: Ways of teaching that inspire meaning-making
Download chapter 1 here Summary  This outstanding book... deserves to be very widely read. I hope it makes a major contribution to how...
Christian Moore Anderson
Apr 5, 20234 min read
2,343


Case studies I've made to share for A-level, IB, and AP biology: Indicator species & life strategies
After coming across two interesting journal papers I thought they would make excellent case studies for my students. Let me introduce,...
Christian Moore Anderson
Nov 19, 20222 min read
489


How should we teach the mechanism of osmosis?
What is the cause of osmosis? Typically, with my students of 14-16 years old (GCSE courses), I don't delve into the mechanism. It's the...
Christian Moore Anderson
Oct 27, 20224 min read
1,543


A simple model for teacher sustainability and growth
What are the most important factors for teacher sustainability? I'm sure there are many. Student behaviour, planning time, teaching...
Christian Moore Anderson
Sep 20, 20223 min read
2,218


Upgrading formative assessment: The questions that actually lead to responsive teaching
Short answer questions are currently ubiquitous in UK secondary biology education. They work well for providing objectivity. This gives...
Christian Moore Anderson
Jun 30, 20226 min read
1,445


How I transitioned from Powerpoint-led lessons to drawing under a visualiser
The Powerpoint years Creating presentations were great for organising my thinking while I planned, I could include: Exactly the right...
Christian Moore Anderson
Jun 16, 20227 min read
5,473


Reading the organism: Studying the whole to give meaning to the parts
This preprint was vastly improved and made into Chapter 5 of my book . This is a brief summary of my new (preprint) paper in which: I...
Christian Moore Anderson
May 12, 20225 min read
1,267


How I teach blood glucose homeostasis with a stock and flow model
Glucose homeostasis—What will happen? On the surface we have the learning of the component parts of the human body that function as a...
Christian Moore Anderson
Apr 21, 20224 min read
2,773


Why a teacher's philosophy matters as much as their pedagogy
A thought experiment: Scenario 1: Two pedagogy-passionate colleagues (of the same subject) are being observed by a non-specialist. The...
Christian Moore Anderson
Jan 24, 20224 min read
534


A taxonomy for feedback: a shared understanding of learning in biology
They say that feedback is not about improving the work, but about improving the learner. Yet, what aspect of the learner? Their knowledge...
Christian Moore Anderson
Nov 14, 20217 min read
2,520


Unifying & discerning organisms through a diagram: Making meaning of life
Whilst reading through a rather old book called Life Cycles by Peter Calow (1978), I came across a diagram that instantly struck me as...
Christian Moore Anderson
Oct 29, 20212 min read
698


Putting nature back into secondary biology education: a framework for integration
This is a summary of my paper here in the Journal of Biological Education , whose ideas have been vastly advanced and presented in my...
Christian Moore Anderson
Oct 27, 20216 min read
2,400


Embedding natural selection throughout the biology curriculum
In lower secondary science education, chemistry and physics curricula seem to focus on developing robust explanatory models, such as the...
Christian Moore Anderson
Oct 15, 20216 min read
2,510


How I teach SA:V in biology & where some explanations fall short
In this post I will explain where I think many typical explanations fall short on the concept of surface area to volume ratio (SA:V) in...
Christian Moore Anderson
Sep 8, 20217 min read
3,423


Why Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve isn't useful for teaching
Ebbinghau's forgetting curve has seen a resurgence in popularity. While I agree that knowledge is essential for domain specific...
Christian Moore Anderson
Aug 27, 20214 min read
5,295


Concept maps for homework with my IB biology (KS5) course: How I did it, and what I learnt
Update I like concept maps, I think they're a valuable tool, but students do need training and I found that they also need motivation....
Christian Moore Anderson
Jun 1, 20218 min read
902


How excessive use of the respiration equation can cause problems:
Cell respiration and its relationship to photosynthesis is one of the fundamental concepts of biology. It sits up high in the hierarchy...
Christian Moore Anderson
Feb 18, 20214 min read
1,287
bottom of page