The loss of biodiversity and the accompanying “plant blindness” are major problems for mankind. Biology classes in Germany deal with this topic with the aim of enabling students to identify plants in their surroundings. Here, the process of plant identification plays a key role. To render the process of plant identification, more student-oriented, new digital approaches are being developed. Thus, teachers are now being confronted with digital tools for plant identification without having exact knowledge of their added value. This intervention study was therefore conducted in order to determine the effects on learning by means of a paper-based dichotomous identification key (Eikes Baumschule) and a digital identification app (ID-Logics). The results show that both tools have individual media-related differences that should be considered when designing learning strategies: With the previously reduced, paper-based tool, students can identify plants more quickly and often more correctly. However, the digital app has advantages in terms of enjoyment and learning about individual characteristics of plants. The study shows the challenges and opportunities associated with the (digital) medium. Furthermore, it sheds light on the process of species determination and reveals further fields of research in science education.

Pre-service teacher (PST) training in Germany largely fails to prepare prospective teachers adequately for the subject-specific use of digital media. In order to promote their digital competences as well as their intention to use digital media, teacher training needs to adapt. Utilizing Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study aims to identify beliefs on the subject-specific use of different digital media in biology classroom. Within a weekly course on different scientific inquiry methods, pre-service biology teachers used various digital media and wrote reflections on advantages and disadvantages of the digital media they used. Through analysis of these written reflections (n = 85) it was possible, to differentiate the TPB constructs into 38 subcategories. Across all media, we were able to identify most beliefs in the area of behavioral and control beliefs, while normative beliefs and self-efficacy expectations were rarely expressed. At the level of the inductive categories, however, the beliefs were often expressed with different frequencies depending on the medium used. The results allow a more subject-specific differentiation of TPB’s constructs for digital media use in order to design a measuring instrument to evaluate biology teacher training courses. In addition, the results indicate that PSTs’ intention to use digital media in the biology classroom also differs depending on the medium used. These findings provide actionable insights for the design of teacher training programs that specifically target beliefs, i.e. by confronting PSTs with a variety of different digital tools, to enhance the effective use of digital media in biology classrooms.

Few studies have investigated the effects of citizen science (CS) in formal environmental education. Using a three-wave quasi-experimental design to survey students from three secondary schools ( N Total = 126), we tested the effects of two different education treatments (instruction treatment and CS treatment) on personal and collective outcomes related to biodiversity protection. Both treatments included teaching units on urban biodiversity, but only participants in the CS treatment engaged in joint fieldwork and discussions on urban diversity together with researchers. Results revealed that both treatments increased students’ knowledge about biodiversity compared to control conditions. However, only the CS treatment raised students’ collective and personal biodiversity-protective behavior and collective action intentions as well as their nature relatedness. Increases in self-reported behavior and collective action intentions were partly mediated by changes in nature relatedness (but not knowledge). Our results highlight the potential of CS interventions to foster biodiversity protection and pro-environmental identity.

The 2019 published report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem (IPBES) reveals that the decline in species and habitats induced by human activities is continuing. School students still have difficulties to understand the meaning of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss. The underlying assumption of this study is that learners do not only need a scientific understanding of biodiversity in order to perceive it as personally meaningful. Rather, they should also have the opportunity to relate this complex topic to their individual nature experiences. This study pursues the idea that the biography of a biodiversity researcher can be used as a model for school students. A total of 18 German secondary school students at an average age of 15 years took part in this qualitative study. Data sampling included six group discussions with three participants each. We used an inductive as well as a deductive approach (category system) to analyze the data. Our results show that our study participants’ biographical nature experiences are appropriate to build bridges between biodiversity and themselves. Furthermore, we retraced meaningful understanding processes among the school students. These insights can inform biodiversity education.

Zusammenfassung: Biologielehrkräfte beklagen einen Mangel an Unterrichtsmaterial zur Förderung der Bewertungskompetenz ihrer Schüler:innen. Schulbücher sollten entsprechendes Unterrichtsmaterial, wie bspw. kompetenzorientierte Aufgaben, enthalten, da sie kultusministeriell legitimiert sind und demnach den Bildungsstandards bzw. Lehrplänen folgen sollten. Daher verwundert der beklagte Mangel an Material. Um das Phänomen besser zu verstehen, wurden die Aufgaben (n = 39.464) von in Deutschland zugelassenen Schulbüchern (n = 72) integrativ-inhaltsanalytisch untersucht. Dazu wurden Systematisierungen bioethischer Themenfelder und das Oldenburger Modell der Bewertungskompetenz genutzt und das Ziel verfolgt, zu prüfen, inwieweit die Schulbuchaufgaben den Erwerb von Bewertungskompetenz im Verlauf der Sekundarstufe I ansteuern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Schulbuchaufgaben zur Förderung von Bewertungskompetenz (n = 3191) insgesamt unterrepräsentiert sind. Ferner werden vor allem sozialethische Themen angesprochen, während wissenschaftsethische Themen kaum aufgegriffen werden. Die vorhandenen Aufgaben zeigen kein systematisches Förderpotential, da sie vor allem auf das Argumentieren abzielen, während die ethische Dimension kaum ausgeleuchtet wird. Auf Grundlage dieser Befunde diskutiert der Beitrag die Qualität von Schulbuchaufgaben zur Förderung von Bewertungskompetenz, die Rolle des Schulbuchs für die Unterrichtsvorbereitung und -durchführung von Biologielehrkräfte sowie als Treiber von curricularen Reformen.

Based on the assumption that the process of understanding is partly narrative, this study explores the potential benefits and limitations of using narrative writing in biology education. We investigate what contribution a student-centered narrative intervention can make to the conceptual understanding of protein biosynthesis in the context of viral infections and virus replication. After a teaching sequence on this topic, 68 secondary school students (M = 15.7 years, SD = 0.57 years) explained virus replication in a written text. One subsample (n = 46) was instructed to write a narrative text, while the other one (n = 22) was asked to write an expository (non-fictional) text. Our data analysis encompassed an analysis of the structural narrativity in the student texts, as well as a concept-related rating of the level of scientific correctness in three categories. A post-test questionnaire (35 items) was used to depict the learners’ viewpoints on their respective text production and the learning process that they experienced. Our findings indicate that most learners actually produced the text type they were supposed to, with exceptions in both sub-samples. As to the level of concept-related scientific correctness, we found no major differences between the two interventions. However, for two concepts, compartmentalization and levels of organization, the data indicate the significant advantage of the narrative intervention. We conclude from our results that to some extent, the effective learning properties of narrative texts, derived from the theoretical foundations, could indeed successfully be demonstrated in the field of virus replication. However, narrative text production is not equally beneficial for all aspects of the biological topic, and it also poses specific problems for some learners.