Publications

Education must go beyond only countering essentialist and deterministic views of genetics.

Classroom interactions emerging from socioscientific argumentation may be incompatible with the traditional definitions of learning, thus creating tension and potentially undermining its implementation. Leveraging existing literature, we identify argumentative talk that shifts away from scientific content and toward subjective claims, as well as instances of unproductive argumentation as the points of incompatibility. We contend that attention to the degree of compatibility of enactments of socioscientific argumentation with traditional schooling practices may be necessary for substantive implementation. The role of teachers\u2019 and students\u2019 interactional moves in relation to this compatibility is qualitatively examined using two analytical frameworks related to the content and form of the students\u2019 arguments. To generate practical implications with empirical foundations, compatibility is examined in teacher-led and peer-led argumentation. In teacher-led argumentation, we show that the degree of incompatibility can be managed when teachers extend their elicitation of responses with follow-up interrogative questioning, leading students to rely more on scientific knowledge. In peer-led argumentation, incompatibility can be identified when the argumentation collapses into confrontational disagreement or uncritical agreement, obscuring instances in which students rely on scientific knowledge. We discuss the significance of productive talk moves as a way to advance from incompatibility with traditional schooling toward integrating socioscientific argumentation as a core instructional practice.

Background
The presumed conflict between religion and evolution is considered one of the main causes for rejection of evolution worldwide. It has been shown that when students\u2032 perceived conflict is not answered, they may not accept evolution. However, there is a debate in the literature whether teachers should relate to students\u2019 religious faith in evolution class, although teachers tend to agree that it should be related. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes of scientists and teachers, toward relating to religion when teaching evolution.
Results
When scientists (n\u2009=\u2009124) were asked in an online survey whether teachers should relate to religion when teaching evolution, most scientists said teachers should not relate to religion, in contrary to teachers who were asked the same question and said that teachers should relate to religion. When religious teachers (n\u2009=\u200910) and scientists (n\u2009=\u200910) were asked the same question\u2014all the religious teachers agreed that teachers should relate to religion, emphasizing mainly the importance of connecting to the students\u2019 inner world, preparing students for the future, etc. Most religious scientists also agreed, although they were more hesitant and emphasized the challenges and limitations of relating to religion in a science class. When asked how to relate to the issue, the teachers emphasized the importance of relating to the students\u2019 culture and self-choice. Moreover, they took responsibility and emphasized it is their role to provide a proper response to their students. Most interviewed scientists emphasized that the boundaries between science and religion should be emphasized clearly by the teacher, and some suggested that biology teachers themselves should not discuss the issue, but that an external figure such as a rabbi or the religion/bible teacher should do it.
Conclusions
When discussing the issue of relating to religion in a science class, the differences between scientists and teachers that were identified here emphasize the need to relate to teachers\u2019 experiences in this academic discussion, as they are aware of their students\u2019 difficulties. In addition, it is important to consider the attitudes of religious scientists and teachers, as they demonstrate the possible co-existence between religion and science in their own life, thus they understand the conflict and may have practical solutions to it. Teachers\u2019 professional development programs in this issue, may help teachers face with the limitations and challenges that the presumed conflict between religion and evolution may create.

Background: The presumed conflict between religion and evolution is considered one of the main causes of rejection of evolution worldwide. However, there is a unique group of religious people who accept, study, and teach evolution. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of these individuals\u2019 conception of the relationship between evolution and religion, and the factors that influenced this conception. Religious biology teachers (n\u2009=\u200910) and scientists (n\u2009=\u200910) were surveyed and interviewed about their conception of evolution and religion and the factors that influenced it. Results: The study population demonstrated that reconciling science and religion was possible for them. The interpretation of the bible as moral guidance, and not as a science book, was found to be a main idea in the participants\u2019 conception. Most participants said that their conception of evolution was influenced by their parents\u2019 and teachers\u2019 approach to science. Participants who had rejected evolution in the past emphasized that exposure to scientific knowledge alone was not enough to counter this rejection, whereas exposure to the possible compatibility between religion and evolution promoted their acceptance. Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of exposing teachers to different approaches to the relationship between evolution and religion. Implementation of the study conclusions in professional development programs may help teachers promote religiously affiliated students\u2019 better learning of evolution and a meaningful learning of science in general.

Evolution is a difficult topic to teach; teachers admit not having enough knowledge of evolution and they face student opposition to learning evolution, especially based on religious grounds. Teachers are therefore motivated to gain knowledge in the field of evolution. We conducted a 30-hour evolution teacher training course, which included scientific and pedagogical evolution knowledge, with 14 inservice teachers who represent the main religious/cultural sectors in the country. The aim of this research was to enrich our knowledge regarding students' opposition to learning evolution as reflected by their teachers-participants in the teacher training course, as well as the ways in which these teachers dealt with this opposition before and after the course. Our main findings were that 9 of the participating teachers underwent a transition during the course which gave them either the pedagogical tools or confidence to teach evolution, or to deal with their students' opposition to learning evolution stemming from religious beliefs. Four of the teachers expressed unwillingness to deal with this opposition. A more intensive course dealing with science and religion might have been even more significant for the teachers. Teacher training courses are a good opportunity for further science education research, they can help teachers overcome their students' conflicts with evolution and enable them to teach it without trepidation.

Human evolution is a sensitive and controversial topic, which might explain why it is not included in science curricula or textbooks in many countries. We prepared an online student-centered human evolution activity dealing with lactose tolerance. In constructing the activity, we considered the following design principles: a medical issue connected to students' lives, a noncontentious topic of human evolution, and a one-step genetic example that can be demonstrated by basic bioinformatics tools. The activity consists of four units dealing with the activity of the enzyme lactase in our small intestine, the differences in lactose tolerance in people from different origins, the genetic foundation of lactose tolerance, and an extension unit dealing with the control of lactase gene expression. The activity was experienced by a pilot group of approximately 100 students, preservice and in-service teachers who showed great interest in the genetics of a trait that has undergone evolutionary changes. We noted the need for a teacher as mediator while students perform the activity. We suggest using the activity in the context of evolution, genetics, or when teaching about systems of the human body, either all units in succession or as a modular activity.

Calls have been made to give K-12 teachers and students access to current methods used in biological research, including advanced microscopy. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful tool that can be used for either remote or onsite inquiry experiences for students. To use this microscope in a way that promotes students' understanding of biological concepts, teachers should be informed about its capabilities, benefits and limitations as an instructional tool. Therefore, we introduced SEM to in-service biology teachers through a teacher-training workshop where they experienced activities using the SEM. We then assessed their views on the possible benefits and challenges of the SEM in high-school biology class, and particularly while teaching the relationships between structure and function. The participants' insights are described and discussed here, shedding light on what biology teachers should take into consideration while planning and engaging their students in activities using the SEM. © ISLS.

The use of a molecular viewer to visualize proteins has become more prevalent in high schools in recent years. We relied on the foundations of two theoretical frameworks to analyze questions in two learning tasks designed for 10th- to 12th-grade biotechnology majors that make use of Jmol. The two theoretical frameworks were: (i) classification of scientific knowledge into content, procedural, and epistemic knowledge; and (ii) evaluation of the cognitive skills central to visual literacy in biochemistry. During the analysis, two sub-elements of procedural knowledge emerged from the data: (i) the visualization of molecular models, and (ii) the use of Jmol software features. Based on the theoretical frameworks and data analysis, we suggest a conceptualization of learning about proteins using a molecular viewer, where the scientific knowledge elements are integrated with the eight cognitive skills central to visual literacy in biochemistry. In addition, a model presenting a hierarchy for the knowledge elements and sub-elements is suggested. In this model, content knowledge is a basic requirement; without it, the other knowledge elements cannot be used. Moreover, the use of epistemic knowledge or Jmol software features is not possible without visualization of the molecular models, which requires content knowledge. This conceptualization is expected to facilitate the development of learning tasks, decrease the complexity of knowledge acquisition for students; it may also assist the teacher during the teaching process.

The strategic vision proposal for the Programme for International Student Assessment in science for the year 2024, as well as of the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards in the United States, includes the vision that “every young person should be digitally and data literate.” Thus, engaging in the practice of analyzing and interpreting data is regarded as an essential experience in the teaching and learning of science. For the last two decades, we have been promoting the idea of using authentic databases for the teaching and learning of biology in high school. The use of such databases requires various proficiencies, including the use of computational tools and databases integrated with biological knowledge. Throughout the research, development and implementation that accompanied the promotion of this idea, we have continuously used various frameworks suggested for the examination of knowledge elements that are involved in the teaching and learning of science. In this chapter, we discuss these various theoretical frameworks of scientific knowledge elements and how they have influenced our research and development efforts to promote the teaching and learning of biology using authentic tools and databases.

Over the past 50 years the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel was actively involved in all the components related to curriculum development, implementation, and research in science, mathematics, and computer science education: both learning and teaching. These initiatives are well designed and effective examples of long-term developmental and comprehensive models of reforms in the way science and mathematics are learned and taught. The 16 chapters of the book are divided into two key parts. The first part is on curriculum development in the sciences and mathematics. The second describes the implementation of these areas and its related professional development. Following these chapters, two commentaries are written by two imminent researchers in science and mathematics teaching and learning: Professor Alan Schonfeld from UC Berkeley, USA, and Professor Ilka Parchman from IPN at the University of Kiel, Germany. The book as a whole, as well as its individual chapters, are intended for a wide audience of curriculum developers, teacher educators, researchers on learning and teaching of science and mathematics and policy makers at the university level interested in advancing models of academic departments working under a common philosophy, yet under full academic freedom.

The idea of the interaction between genes and environment in the formation of traits is an important component of genetic literacy, because it explains the plastic nature of phenotypes. However, most studies in genetics education characterize challenges in understanding and reasoning about genetic phenomena that do not involve modulation by the environment. Therefore, we do not know enough to inform the development of effective instructional materials that address the influences of environmental factors on genes and traits, that is, phenotypic plasticity. The current study explores college students’ understanding of phenotypic plasticity. We interviewed biological sciences undergraduates who are at different stages of their undergraduate studies and asked them to explain several phenomena that involved phenotypic plasticity. Analysis of the interviews revealed two types of mechanistic accounts: one type described the interaction as involving the environment directly acting on a passive organism; while the other described the interaction as mediated by a sensing-and-responding mechanism. While both accounts are plausible, the second account is critical for reasoning about phenotypic plasticity. We also found that contextual features of the phenomena may affect the type of account generated. Based on these findings, we recommend focusing instruction on the ways in which organisms sense and respond.

The New Horizons in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Conference was organized by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) in collaboration with the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS), and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and held in Rehovot, Israel, on September 6-8, 2017. The program covered the entire lifespan of students/scientists from the school level to undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels and brought together 130 international participants. This article provides an overview of the major issues and topics discussed at the conference and suggestions for the way forward.

Technological breakthroughs in the past two decades have ushered in a new era of biomedical research, turning it into an information-rich and technology-driven science. This scientific revolution, though evident to the research community, remains opaque to nonacademic audiences. Such knowledge gaps are likely to persist without revised strategies for science education and public outreach. To address this challenge, we developed a unique outreach program to actively engage over 100 high-school students in the investigation of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Our program uses robotic automation and interactive web-based tools to bridge geographical distances, scale up the number of participants, and reduce overall cost. Students and teachers demonstrated high engagement and interest throughout the project and valued its unique approach. This educational model can be leveraged to advance the massive open online courses movement that is already transforming science education.

In genetics education, symbols are used for alleles to visualize them and to explain probabilities of progeny and inheritance paradigms. In this study, we identified symbol systems used in genetics textbooks and the justifications provided for changes in the symbol systems. Moreover, we wanted to understand how students justify the use of different symbol systems when solving genetics problems. We analyzed eight textbooks from three different countries worldwide. We then presented a genetics problem to eight 9th-grade students and probed their justifications for the use of different symbol systems. Our findings showed that there is no one conventional symbol system in textbooks; instead, symbol systems are altered along and within textbooks according to the genetic context. More importantly, this alteration is not accompanied by any explicit explanation for the alteration. Student interviews revealed that some students were able to identify the genetic context of each symbol system, whereas others, who were unable to do so, provided justifications based on different non-genetics-related reasons. We discuss the implications of our analysis for how multiple symbol systems should be presented in textbooks, and how they should be introduced in the classroom.

To determine what knowledge of genetics is needed for decision-making on genetic-related issues, a consensus-reaching approach was used. An international group of 57 experts, involved in teaching, studying, or developing genetic education and communication or working with genetic applications in medicine, agriculture, or forensics, answered the questions: "What knowledge of genetics is relevant to those individuals not professionally involved in science?" and "Why is this knowledge relevant?" The answers were classified in different knowledge components following the PISA 2015 science framework. During a workshop with the participants, the results were discussed and applied to seven cases in which genetic knowledge is relevant for decision-making. The analysis of these discussions resulted in a revised framework consisting of nine conceptual knowledge components, three sociocultural components, and four epistemic components. The framework can be used in curricular decisions; its open character allows for including new technologies and applications and facilitates comparisons of different cases.

לפי תפיסתו של פולאן, למורים מקום מרכזי במערכת החינוך כ"סוכנים של שינוי" חינוכי וחברתי ]1 .]לשם כך, רצוי שיהיו להם שני מרכיבים חיוניים המשלימים זה את זה: חזון- להציב לעצמם תכלית ויעד חינוכי להביא לשיפור מתמיד בלמידה, תוך שהמורה מודע וקשוב לצרכי התלמידים; כלים ויכולת- פיתוח מיומנויות ואסטרטגיות הנדרשות להגשמת החזון. לדידו נדרשות 4 יכולות ליבה לשם הקניית היכולת לשנות: א) הבניה של חזון אישי, ב) חקירה מתמשכת כמנוע פנימי להתחדשות ולמידה, ג) מומחיות שבסיסה הכשרה איכותית ראשונית שנרכשת לאורך התפתחות הקריירה ומובילה להבנה מעמיקה, ו-ד) שיתוף פעולה. לפיכך, ולאור בסיס הידע והמיומנויות שיש להקנות למורים, הנוגעים להוראה משמעותית ושינוי התנאים המשפיעים על ההוראה, פולאן ועמיתיו בפקולטה לחינוך באוניברסיטת טורונטו גיבשו קריאה לבחינה של תכניות להכשרת מורים. בשנים האחרונות גוברת ההכרה כי למורים תפקיד מפתח באימוץ של רפורמות במערכת החינוך וביישומן. מחקרים מעידים כי ידע בתחום התוכן ומומחיות פדגוגית אינם הכרחיים כשלעצמם לשם יישום מוצלח של רפורמה בתוכנית הלימודים (להלן תה"ל) וכי ישנן סיבות למכביר בגינן מורים אינם מיישמים רפורמות, סיבות הנעוצות במטרות ובהקשרים חיצוניים (תה"ל לדוגמא), פנימיים (בית הספר, חברה), ואישיים (מטרות אישיות, ידע, מיומנויות פדגוגיות). על תכניות להתפתחות מקצועית המלוות רפורמות חינוכיות להכיר, להתחשב ולתת מענה למגוון המטרות של המורים וההקשרים בהם המורים מתפקדים, בכדי לאפשר שינוי אמיתי ויישום של רפורמות. במאמר זה נתאר את השלבים המרכזיים בהתפתחות מקצועית של מורים מובילים כחלק מתהליך ההטמעה של למידה והוראה של ביואינפורמטיקה בתה"ל של המקצוע "מערכות ביוטכנולוגיות". התפתחות מקצועית זו התאפשרה הודות לשיתוף פעולה בין המחלקה להוראת המדעים במכון ויצמן למדע והפיקוח על הוראת ביוטכנולוגיה במשרד החינוך. אחת מגולות הכותרת של ההתפתחות המקצועית הייתה השתלמות מורים ארצית לקראת שנה"ל תשע"ד, שהתקיימה במור-טק, מרכז המורים הארצי למקצועות הטכנולוגיים מדעיים.

Background: The knowledge that is required for teaching includes subject matter content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Although CK and PCK are distinct components of the teachers’ knowledge, the distinction between those two components and the relationships between them are still underexplored. In a previous study, we showed that biology teachers that participated in a long-term professional development program view CK as an important component of the knowledge required for teaching biology, yet they see it as distinct from PCK. We wondered what are the views of mathematics teachers, who participate in a similar program, on the knowledge that is required for teaching and on the relationships between CK and PCK. In addition, we compared the participating mathematics and biology teachers’ tacit views of the knowledge required for teaching and on the relationships between CK and PCK.Results: We used the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) as well as semi-structured interviews and a focus group, to elicit mathematics (n =13) and biology (n =16) teachers’ tacit views about the knowledge that is required for teaching. The results show that both mathematics and biology teachers view CK as a significant component of their teaching practice. However, whereas mathematics teachers tend to view CK and PCK as related entities, biology teachers tend to view them as separate.Conclusions: The main contribution of this study is in exposing that teachers from different disciplines may view differently the importance of high-level CK to their practice. The differences among the participating mathematics and biology teachers’ tacit views of the relationships between CK and PCK may aid in the design of professional development programs for mathematics and biology teachers. It is important to draw attention to the ability to recognize the tacit relationships between CK and PCK and to articulate these relationships in planning professional development programs.

Nearly 5,000 self-generated science-related K-12 students' questions, classified into seven science subjects, were used to quantitatively measure the gender gap in science interests and its change with age. In this data set, a difference between boys' and girls' science interests did not exist during early childhood, but increased over 20-fold by the end of high school. Furthermore, the gap widened in a stereotypical manner, with girls being increasingly interested in biology and boys more interested in physics and technology. This method could be applied for identifying and comparing the gender gap in science interests between different populations based on different data sources.

This special issue of the Journal of Biological Education is devoted to selected papers from the European Research in the Didactic of Biology (ERIDOB) conference held in Braga, Portugal, in July 2010. The theme of the ERIDOB 2010 conference was Authenticity in biology education: benefits and challenges. This theme emerged from discussions that had taken place at the ERIDOB 2008 conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands. During those discussions, it had become apparent that various ERIDOB members related differently to the meaning of the term authenticity. Some believed that activities that are performed outside the classroom are authentic, while others thought that authentic activities should engage students in posing questions and designing their own paths to solve them. In this short editorial, we attempt to frame authenticity within the current literature, and to point out how the papers that were selected for this special issue contribute to our current understanding of authenticity in biology education.

The most recent science and technology curriculum for junior high school in Israel contains a new guideline stating that the cell topic is to be taught "longitudinally in conjunction with other study contents." This guideline confers a change in teaching the cell topic and provides an opportunity to form meaningful relationships between biological phenomena at the macro level and their cellular explanations. Here, we examined the extent to which six textbooks, available for junior high schools in Israel, support this teaching approach. We found that the textbooks differ in how they express the guideline and that most of them do not support the new teaching approach to any significant extent. Moreover, the textbooks generally emphasize cells' structure and pay less attention to the processes occurring in them. Our findings could shed light on students' difficulties in comprehending the living cell and in correlating macroscopic phenomena with their cellular explanations.

Over the past several decades, there has been a tremendous growth in our understanding of genetic phenomena and the intricate and complicated mechanisms that mediate genetic effects. Given the complexity of content in modern genetics and the inadequacy of current instructional methods and materials it seems that a more coherent and extensive approach to teaching modern genetics is needed. Learning progressions provide such an approach by describing the learning of core concepts in a domain as it unfolds over multiple grades and grade bands. In this paper we suggest a learning progression for modern genetics that spans grades 5 10. We describe the learning progression in terms of three key aspects of teaching and learning modern genetics: (1) the big ideas in modern genetics, and the knowledge and abilities that students should master by the end of compulsory education; and (2) the progression of learning that students are expected to make over several grades; and (3) the identification of learning performances and development of assessments for the proposed progression. We conclude by identifying the implications for instruction and research that stem from our analysis of the research base in genetics education, and our development of a theoretical progression for learning the big ideas in modern genetics.

In the new science and technology junior-high-school curriculum in Israel, it is recommended that the cell topic be taught 'longitudinally in conjunction with other study contents'. This recommendation confers a change in teaching the cell topic and provides an opportunity to form meaningful relationships between biological phenomena at the macro-level and their cellular explanations. Here, we examine junior-high-school science and technology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with regard to the cell topic and the formation of macro-micro relations, ten years following the publication of the change in the curriculum. Teachers in this study participated in three focus groups (n = 59) and one workshop (n = 12). In addition, six experienced teachers were interviewed in the course of this study. Specific tools were developed to capture the teachers' PCK. We found that the teachers had changed their way of teaching the cell topic only superficially: they did not undergo any deep change. Despite the importance the teachers placed on teaching and learning the cell topic, their concerns about their students' comprehension difficulties reduced the time they devoted to teaching the topic in class. The teachers were also found to have no PCK capacity to integrate biological phenomena at the macro-level with their cellular explanations. In addition, a duality was identified among the teachers with regards to relating macro- and micro-levels in biology and in chemistry.

We shall structure this rejoinder around two main sections. In the first, we address three underlying assumptions of our work that Osborne has identified. We indicate points of agreement, disagreement, and clarification. In the second section, we discuss briefly and add our clarifications to three understandings of his that Osborne introduces into the discussion. It should be noted that Osborne's response is grounded in the same basic assumption as our set of papers, namely, the central role played by reading and writing, and communicative activities in general, both in science and in learning science.

Nearly 79.000 questions sent to an Internet-based Ask-A-Scientist site during the last decade were analyzed according to the surfer's age, gender, country of origin, and the year the question was sent. The sample demonstrated a surprising dominance of female contributions among K-12 students (although this dominance did not carry over to the full sample), where offline situations are commonly characterized by males' greater interest in science. This female enthusiasm was observed in different countries, and had no correlation to the level of gender equity in those countries. This suggests that the Internet as a free-choice science-learning environment plays a potentially empowering and democratic role that is especially relevant to populations that are traditionally deprived of equal opportunities in learning formal science. However, worldwide, girls' interest in submitting questions to scientists dropped as they grew older relative to the boys' interest, and the stereotypically gendered science interests persisted in this environment as well. The strengths and limitations of using free-choice Web-based data sources for studying youth interest in science are discussed.