JBE 44 (1) Winter 2009

SPECIAL ERIDOB ISSUE

Welcome to ERIDOB

David Slingsby, UK
There are enough excellent papers at an ERIDOB conference to fill JBE several times over and the choice of the seven we include in this special edition was not an easy one.

The Society of Biology

Can theoretical constructs in science be generalised across disciplines?

Jenny Lewis, UK
For many years there has been a growing concern, particularly among researchers in biology education, about the extent to which research findings from one discipline (most usually physics education) can be applied directly to other disciplines (particularly biology education).

A designer’s view: the perspective of form and function

Dirk Jan Boerwinkel, Arend Jan Waarlo and Kerst Boersma. The Netherlands
The authors developed the perspective of form and function, as used by both biologists and technical designers, into a tool for constructing knowledge in primary science education.

Teaching molecular genetics through experiments in outreach laboratories

Michal Stolarsky Ben-Nun and Anat Yarden, Israel
An investigation of students’ conceptual models of genetics through the analysis and interpretation of the discourse that took place while high-school students practised hands-on molecular biology experiments in the laboratory.

Addictive substances: textbook approaches from 16 countries

Graça S Carvalho, Didier Jourdan, Artur Gonçalves, Catarina Dantas and Dominique Berger, Portugal and France
This project compared the approaches taken towards addictive substances in textbooks within 16 countries involved in the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN.

Moral reasoning in genetics education

Paul van der Zande, Mieke Brekelmans, Jan Vermunt and Arend Jan Waarlo, The Netherlands
Incorporating intuition and emotion into moral reflection is a rather new idea in the educational world, where rational reasoning is preferred. To develop a teaching and learning strategy to address this moral reflection, a developmental research project aimed at empowering biology teachers for moral education in context-based genetics was started.

Children’s anthropomorphic and anthropocentric ideas about micro-organisms

Jenny Byrne, Marcus Grace and Pam Hanley, UK
Different views exist about whether anthropomorphic ideas assist or hinder learning in biology. This paper discusses the anthropomorphic and anthropocentric ideas children have about micro-organisms, and whether they affect their understanding.