Research

Teaching and learning contemporary biology

We develop novel teaching and learning materials that integrate various scientific practices into scientific content with the attempt to promote scientific literacy among the future citizens. Our attempts are based on the view that in addition to learning the scientific content, students should also learn how scientists acquire knowledge using scientific practices. We use various means to investigate whether our two-dimensional interdisciplinary approach is indeed helpful in promoting scientific literacy among learners.

Personalizing biology teaching and learning

We develop the biological part within the departmental Personalized Teaching and Learning (PeTeL) environment. We are primarily focusing on diagnosing biology students' knowledge and skills. The diagnosis is tailored to various learning styles and directs students to suitable learning materials. The knowledge diagnosis and student guidance are partly based on using artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as providing feedback to students’ answers to open-ended questions in specific topics. The environment includes various activities that strongly emphasize an integration between high-level biological content and scientific skills.

Biology teachers' professional development

Highly knowledgeable and competent biology teachers are essential for promoting the implementation of novel approaches in schools and educate the scientifically literate citizens of the 21st century. We are continuously pro-active in promoting high-school biology teachers' professional development, striving to enable them to enhance their practice through enriching their knowledge with current advances in contemporary biological research, and with state-of-the-art knowledge in science education.

Adapting primary literature

We are developing curricula which are composed of scientific research articles that are adapted to the knowledge level of high school students. These research articles are written in a novel text genre that we developed and termed Adapted Primary Literature (APL).