A thought experiment: Scenario 1: Two pedagogy-passionate colleagues (of the same subject) are being observed by a non-specialist. The...

They say that feedback is not about improving the work, but about improving the learner. Yet, what aspect of the learner? Their knowledge...

Whilst reading through a rather old book called Life Cycles by Peter Calow (1978), I came across a diagram that instantly struck me as...

This is a summary of my paper here in the Journal of Biological Education , whose ideas have been vastly advanced and presented in my...

In lower secondary science education, chemistry and physics curricula seem to focus on developing robust explanatory models, such as the...

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...

Ebbinghau's forgetting curve has seen a resurgence in popularity. While I agree that knowledge is essential for domain specific...

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....

Cell respiration and its relationship to photosynthesis is one of the fundamental concepts of biology. It sits up high in the hierarchy...

I once approached a physics teacher to lend me his expertise and opinion on my sequence of lessons for Gravity, Mass, and Weight. His...

During my teacher training we had to write a masters' level essay on the implementation of the How Science Works component of the English...

When beginning secondary education in science the physicist may discuss energy, or forces, possibly even motion, the chemist may discuss...

In the UK, the knowledge curriculum seems to be enjoying high levels of popularity. The pendulum has swung (and rightly so) away from...

During my training year as a teacher I taught one lesson that went really well with a bottom set science class. It generated a lot of engaging discussion for a typically quiet and disengaged class. Most of it was centred around the question of inheritance and whether specific characteristics, such as your height, presence of freckles, eye colour, et cetera, were the result of genetic or environmental inheritance. Now, I look back with regret. It just seems so intuitive to eve

Cellulose is an incredibly important component of cell walls, plant cells, plants, and whole ecosystems. However, cellulose can only be a...

Biological systems are highly complex and non-linear. Students will struggle to see the wood for the trees unless the multitude of...

Ideas in this blog post eventually developed into a much more advanced idea presented in my book . Life exists within the context of its...

Mendelian genetics is ubiquitous in secondary school biology curricula, and the Punnet square is iconic to genetics. Think about the common examples of traits that you have seen in biology curricula to show Mendelian genetics. What could go wrong with such a solid concept? 🚨 Update: I've moved to a new home! You can read the newest, updated version of this article on my new website here: https://christianmooreanderson.com/the-problems-with-mendelian-genetics-in-biology-educ

Should mitosis be taught alongside meiosis or separately? Should organelles be taught together or separately across the curriculum? How...

How the 'cult of pedagogy' of pedagogy can distort the knowledge of the biology curriculum One of the defining characteristics of my...

Explanation in biology is split between two big questions. These questions should inform how we teach, and the answers we expect from students. These questions are How? and Why? So what do these mean?—that idea started with Ernst Mayr. 🚨 Update: I've moved to a new home! You can read the newest, updated version of this article on my new website here: https://christianmooreanderson.com/the-hows-whys-classroom-questions-that-get-students-explaining-biology/

Why is the word glucose problematic? Cellular respiration, which is the oxidation of organic molecules for the production of ATP, is...

How should we define DNA (or in some cases, the nucleus) in secondary school? Since beginning teaching biology I have seen such things...

How many biology courses begin with cells? Most Year 7 courses (11 years old) begin with cells. Then at 14 years old GCSE biology courses...