It is more important than ever to raise awareness of the value of preserving biodiversity given the current high rates of extinction. Many snake species are threatened despite playing key ecological roles in ecosystems. In addition to habitat destruction and climate change, human-snake conflicts constitute a major threat to snakes. Education, therefore, can be a crucial tool for snake conservation. In this study conducted in the Basque Country (northern Spain), we assess the knowledge, emotions, attitudes and intentional behaviours of 640 secondary education students (aged 15-16) towards snakes, examining the interrelationships among these dimensions and their associations with selected sociodemographic factors. The results indicate limited awareness and knowledge of snakes, low levels of positive attitudes, moderate levels of fear and disgust, and avoidance (particularly running away) as the most common behavioural intention. These patterns were significantly more pronounced among girls than boys. Familiarity and knowledge of exotic snakes were higher than for native species, and students from larger towns showed lower familiarity with native snakes and poorer identification. The importance of providing students with relevant information on native snakes is emphasised, along with the need to incorporate emotional dimensions into biodiversity education, especially concerning unpopular animals.
In secondary biology education, students increasingly confront emotionally charged issues linked to ecological crisis. This mixed-methods study examines how Austrian adolescents (13-15 years) imagine their personal and collective future and how these visions relate to environment-related fear and worry, using a rare 35-year cohort comparison (1989, 2011, 2023). Questionnaire data captured future-related emotions, perceived personal impact, and environmental knowledge. Open-ended prompts and a drawing task elicited students' spontaneous future fears and visualised future scenarios. Across cohorts, fear of environmental destruction and pollution became markedly more prominent in 2023 than in earlier cohorts, indicating a shift towards environmental degradation as the dominant spontaneously mentioned future fear. Nature featured centrally in students' future visions; however, when nature was depicted, it was predominantly portrayed as destroyed across cohorts, with this pattern most pronounced in the 2023 cohort. Alongside these concerns, students also expressed biophobias, indicating ambivalent affective relations to the natural world. Girls and students reporting higher environmental concern tended to articulate more emotionally salient, negative visions, and perceived personal relevance emerged as a key correlate of heightened fear and worry. We argue that biology education should integrate affective dimensions explicitly - supporting meaning-making, emotional regulation, and agency alongside scientific understanding.
Science is typically regarded to be a quantitative discipline that prioritises 'hard' skills such as mathematics and statistics. However, there is a growing consideration of the vital role that qualitative skills such as strong writing ability play in scientific success. Despite this, many university science programmes continue to emphasise quantitative skill development while giving less attention to qualitative skills such as literacy. In this quantitative study, we present cross-sectional analytic data describing the relative contribution of literacy and numeracy skills to the overall academic performance of undergraduate biology students. Our findings show that while numeracy is indeed an important predictor of student success, literacy skills also play a role. Notably, students who reported reading fiction regularly tended to have stronger literacy skills. However, strong mathematical ability did not predict strong literacy skills. These findings suggest that science students would benefit from curricula design that places a greater emphasis on developing reading and writing. However, this is not reflected in current course design and leadership as high-achieving research academics are rarely tasked with leading science communication courses.
This study explored the mental models of preservice early childhood teachers regarding biodiversity using a qualitative case study design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant drawings and analysed through thematic content analysis. The findings revealed that participants generally conceptualised biodiversity as the variety of living organisms, with a predominant focus on plants and animals, while less visible taxa received limited attention. Although participants recognised the importance of biodiversity for sustaining life and maintaining ecological balance, their explanations tended to reflect organism-level thinking rather than system-level ecological relationships. The mental models also exhibited conceptual gaps, particularly in recognising ecological interconnectedness. These insights emphasised the need to enhance biodiversity-related content and expand field-based learning opportunities within teacher education programmes. Strengthening these components may help future educators develop more coherent, integrated, and scientifically accurate ecological understandings.
In the face of growing complexity, developing the skills to navigate our daily lives has become a major challenge. In French-speaking Belgium, although the decree of the Education Code emphasises the need to prepare students to become responsible citizens, current teaching practices tend to oversimplify complex phenomena, particularly in genetics. To introduce learners to the complexity of genetics, a didactic framework was developed. This framework integrates reflective, systemic, emergentist, and socio-constructivist approaches, whose impact on students' thinking and knowledge was analysed. The results show significant progress, both in students' modes of thinking - marked by critical and nuanced reflection - and in their understanding of key genetic concepts. Among the framework's components, expert interventions and peer discussions proved effective in deconstructing misconceptions, deepening the understanding of complex genetic interactions, and assimilating new concepts. It would be beneficial to integrate these approaches throughout the school curriculum and across disciplines to help students develop thinking that can grasp complexity.
The environmental crisis is a global challenge that demands consideration from a variety of perspectives, with educational contexts representing a significant domain of inquiry. The main objective of this study was to design and validate an instrument to measure Connectedness to Nature (CN) and Mammal Species Literacy (MSL) in school-age children. The study developed the ABC-CN & MSL scale with a sample of 927 children aged 6 to 12 from 11 schools in C & oacute;rdoba, Spain. The validation process included content, comprehension, and construct validation, indicating that the ABC-CN & MSL scale is a reliable and valid instrument. The exploratory factor analysis supported a three-dimensional structure which is composed of Affective, Behavioural and Cognitive factors (ABC), explaining 43.68% of the variance, with good reliability (alpha = 0.60-0.78). The model's excellent fit was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The cognitive dimension emerged as the strongest, followed by behavioural and affective factors. MSL revealed a limited biodiversity knowledge among participants, highlighting a significant bias towards exotic species, which could have strong implications for environmental education. Enhancing biodiversity literacy in children can increase CN and a stronger propensity for sustainable and pro-environmental behaviours, contributing to long-term conservation efforts.
Cell biology plays a foundational role in preparing students for careers in medicine, biotechnology, and life sciences, yet substantial gaps persist between the classroom and career preparedness. High school teaching remains predominantly theoretical, with limited practical application, technological integration, and career pathway visibility. These deficiencies constrain student preparedness for cell biology-related careers and weaken the overall STEM pipeline. This mixed-method comparative study examined cell biology teaching practices across Finland, Kosovo and Scotland - three contexts representing diverse educational frameworks and socioeconomic conditions. Data collection comprised 46 survey responses from high school cell biology teachers (60%) and public engagement professionals from Learned Societies (40%), supplemented by 18 semi-structured interviews exploring AI adoption barriers and career integration challenges. Three key findings emerged: curriculum and resource inequalities fundamentally shape student learning experiences; AI is viewed as promising but remains underutilised due to infrastructure limitations; and career pathway integration is valued but rarely structured. To address these gaps, the study proposes the LIRA framework (Learning Integration and Role-Model Applications), an AI-supported approach designed to enhance resource access, equity, and connections between classroom biology and careers. These results contribute comparative evidence to international education reform debates and highlight digital equity considerations for sustainable classroom innovation.
This report presents the implementation and evaluation of an inquiry-based molecular biology learning programme conducted within an international learning environment The programme brought together high school students from Israel and the United States; the students engaged in authentic, open inquiry-based learning through the global Wolbachia Project. Working in cross-national teams, students carried out laboratory investigations using molecular biology techniques, while communicating and collaborating online across geographic and cultural boundaries. The educational experience was designed to support the principles of future-oriented pedagogy, including personalisation, collaboration, glocalisation, informalization, adaptivity, and self-integration. Qualitative analysis of student reflections showed that participation in the programme not only enhanced their understanding of molecular biology but also promoted 21st-century competencies such as intercultural communication, digital literacy, and scientific resilience. The findings highlight the value of embedding IBMBL in an ILE to foster meaningful learning aligned with future educational goals.
Conceptual understanding of abstract scientific principles, such as those in the 'Chemical Basis of Life', is critical for advancing science education and enabling real-world applications. This study examines the integration of data-literate practices into inquiry-based learning, using Python programming as a tool for student-led data visualisation and interpretation. The goal is to address challenges in teaching complex topics, including enzyme activity, biomolecules, and energy transformations. Conducted in a DL-IBL Thai secondary school, the study compares the impact of a data-literate IBL (lDL-IBL) approach with a traditional IBL curriculum. Two grade 10 classes participated: one engaged in Python-based scripting, while the other used standard tools. Bayesian analyses indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group (mean score 12.9 vs. 10.2), with an estimated group effect of 2.97 points on a 20-item test. Female students scored lower on average than male students; however, a supplementary interaction analysis indicated that this gender gap did not differ reliably between instructional conditions. Rather than emphasising complex modelling, this study frames coding as a scaffold for reasoning and interpretation. The findings offer insights for integrating data-supported inquiry into science curricula and teacher professional development, particularly in resource-constrained and equity-focused settings.
Biology is often perceived by students as a subject that primarily requires the memorisation of large volumes of information. All too often, the way biology is taught and assessed prioritises factual recall at the expense of developing the creativity, lateral thinking and collaboration skills that students need to succeed professionally in the life sciences. Here, we describe the results of a new two-year outreach programme, the Cambridge Biology Challenge (CBC), which aimed to dispel the 'memorisation myth' whilst also helping students develop their ability to solve biological problems. We show that our programme successfully achieved both aims for several thousand students and discuss the broader lessons that can be learned as to how best to help students understand the true nature of biology as a discipline.
This study examines the evolution of science history content in Tokyo Shoseki Japanese high school biology textbooks (1963-2023), addressing three questions. First, content quantity, type, and presentation followed 'expansion, convergence, and diversification'. Early editions emphasized scientists' biographies and discoveries, while post-2000 content shifted to supplementary columns, incorporating visuals like photos, experiments, and original documents, yet remaining 'genius-centric' with little attention to struggles or collaboration. Second, science history's role shifted from 'fundamental knowledge' to 'complementary resource', often in columns after 2010. Inquiry-based activities were rare, though recent editions (e.g., 2023) introduced bibliographic searches and data analysis, supporting scientific method understanding. Third, localisation trends emerged alongside globalisation: European scientists dominated (68.1%), but Japanese representation grew from 3% in the 1980s to 29% in 2023. Descriptions emphasized scientific and technological contexts, omitting political or religious backgrounds. These shifts reflect curriculum policies and socio-cultural changes, showing textbooks' role in shaping scientific literacy through culturally contextualised narratives.
The media coverage of virus and vaccine information revealed the limited knowledge and vastly differing perspectives the public has about these topics. Although critically important, there is a dearth of research on students' conceptions of vaccines and viruses and their sources of information. In this mixed-methods study, elementary, middle, and high school students were surveyed and interviewed about their knowledge and sources of information related to vaccines and viruses. Participants (n = 227) completed a survey, and 33 participants were randomly selected for follow-up interviews. Results showed students at all grade levels reported learning most of their knowledge about viruses and vaccines outside of school, with parents/guardians being reported as the most frequent source of information. The study found that even young elementary students have significant knowledge of viruses and vaccines, often holding complex concepts. The results documented students' beliefs, concepts, and inaccurate knowledge of viruses and vaccines, as well as how outside sources affected these perspectives. There was evidence that at higher grades, students are increasingly learning about vaccines and viruses from media. These findings support initiating virus and vaccine education at lower grade levels and establishing standards that equip educators with teaching guidelines to direct their instruction on these subjects.
There are mixed research findings regarding the use of fantasy elements in educational stories, although the narrative approach to learning biology and science in early childhood is supported. The study's aim was to create a fantasy story picture book about the biology of the olm (Proteus anguinus L. a depigmented cave salamander with rudimentary eyes), to develop an approach to using it as a tool for learning early biology and to investigate its effectiveness. The story's targeted content included animal morphology, physiology, ecology and systematics. Also included was a short informative text about caves and olm biology. Eighty-eight 5- to 6-year-olds participated in the study. Pre-tests in the form of individual semi-structured interviews were conducted before the children had the story read to them while looking at the accompanying illustrations. A connection between fantasy and the real world was thereby established through the informative text. Post- and late post-tests were conducted, with the results showing a significant improvement in the children's knowledge of scientifically relevant facts. In summary, if the distinction between fantasy and reality in the intervention is clear, the story's fantasy elements do not hinder the learning of biology in early childhood.
