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Ball State University LibrariesLibrary services and resources for knowledge buildingMasters ThesesThere is no abstract available for this thesis.

This creative project demonstrates the development of a curriculum in biology based upon the responses of people, animals, and plants to seasonal and other changes in the environment. The method consisted of five steps: (1) a large number of concepts were written out which included all the areas of specialization within biology; (2) a list of the seasonal activities observed in people, animals, and plants for the coastal Maine area was prepared; (3) a list of topics relating the activities to biology was prepared; (Lt) concepts were assigned to the topics; and (5) teaching activities and methods were suggested for each concept. The course offers the advantages of being extremely flexible, highly interesting, and relevant to students' lives.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

Using a sequential, explanatory mixed methods design, this dissertation study compared students who persist in the biology major (persisters) with students who leave the biology major (switchers) in terms of how their pre-college experiences, college biology experiences, and biology performance figured into their choice of biology and their persistence in or departure from the biology major. This study combined 1) quantitative comparisons of biology persisters and switchers via a questionnaire developed for the study and survival analysis of a larger population of biology freshmen with 2) qualitative comparison of biology switchers and persisters via semi-structured life story interviews and homogenous focus groups. 319 students (207 persisters and 112 switchers) participated in the questionnaire and 36 students (20 persisters and 16 switchers) participated in life story and focus group interviews. All participants were undergraduates who entered The University of Texas at Austin as biology freshmen in the fall semesters of 2000 through 2004. Findings of this study suggest: 1) Regardless of eventual major, biology students enter college with generally the same suite of experiences, sources of personal encouragement, and reasons for choosing the biology major; 2) Despite the fact that they have also had poor experiences in the major, biology persisters do not actively decide to stay in the biology major; they simply do not leave; 3) Based upon survival analysis, biology students are most at-risk of leaving the biology major during the first two years of college and if they are African-American or Latino, women, or seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree (rather than a Bachelor of Science); 4) Biology switchers do not leave biology due to preference for other disciplines; they leave due to difficulties or dissatisfaction with aspects of the biology major, including their courses, faculty, and peers; 5) Biology performance has a differential effect on persistence in the biology major, depending on how well students perform in comparison to other courses or other students. / text

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When democracy was achieved in South Africa there was a need to create an education system that served the needs of all South Africans. An education system which would produce literate, creative, critical and productive citizens. This led to the introduction of OBE, Curriculum 2005 and the National Curriculum Statement policy document. The principles on which the current South African education system is based has been borrowed from countries like Canada, England and Scotland. Although there are educational changes, the legacy of apartheid continues to be felt in the education system. There still exists an unequal distribution of resources both physical and human. Many previously disadvantaged schools do not have laboratory facilities nor qualified biology educators. This unequal distribution of resources impacts on teaching and learning. The successful implementation of the NCS-FET Life Science Policy Document hinges on teachers. Teachers are expected to through their teaching espouse the philosophy of the NCS-FET Life Science Policy Document. The majority of teachers teaching in South African schools had their training in a "content era," where it was amiable to transfer as much content knowledge as possible to learners, with little inquiry and the accompanying practical work. The NCS-FET Life Science Policy Document embraces the idea of learner centredness and emphasises the development of basic and integrated science process skills, in its first learning outcome. These educational changes imply a re-examination of the ways in which activities may have been conducted in the past, and at present. The context in which practical work is done in South Africa is different from the context in which practical work is done in countries like Canada, England and Scotland. This study uses an open-ended questionnaire and focus group interview to investigate teacher conceptions of practical work, the types of practicals teachers use to teach science process skills. The purpose is to get a deeper insight and understanding of teacher practices within a South African context, taking into account the effects of the legacy of apartheid. The study also highlights the possible challenges the teachers face in embracing the NCS-FET Life Science Policy Document. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) with learning-disabled (LD) students. Twenty-four students (12 dyads) classified as LD and attending a school for the learning-disabled participated in the study. Students engaged in either a computer-based environment involving BioWorld, a hospital simulation designed to teach biology students problem-solving skills, or a paper-and-pencil version based on the computer program. A hybrid model of learning was adopted whereby students were provided with direct instruction on the digestive system prior to participating in a problem-solving activity. Students worked in dyads and solved three problems involving the digestive system in either a computerized or a paper-and-pencil condition. The experimenter acted as a coach to assist students throughout the problem-solving process. A follow-up study was conducted, one month later, to measure the long-term learning gains. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze three types of data: process data, outcome data, and follow-up data. Results from the process data showed that all students engaged in effective collaboration and became more systematic in their problem solving over time. Findings from the outcome and follow-up data showed that students in both treatment conditions, made both learning and motivational gains and that these benefits were still evident one month later. Overall, results demonstrated that the computer facilitated students' problem solving and scientific reasoning skills. Some differences were noted in students' collaboration and the amount of assistance required from the coach in both conditions. Thus, PBL is an effective learning approach with LD students in science, regardless of the type of learning environment. These results have implications for teaching science to LD students, as well as for future designs of educational software for this population.

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the biology teachers and student teachers are aware and understand biology-related problems that affect the African communities in the Natal north-coastal region. The basis of the research is modelled on the premise that because biology-related problems such as health, shortage of food and water resources, population explosion, pollution are prevalent in South Africa, biology teachers may well be teaching about ways of coping with these problems. In essence the aims of the study are to: (1) Identify the most important biology-related social problems that impinge on life in the African community, the extent to which they are understood, and the sources of information used by teachers and student-teachers to obtain information about biosocial issues. (2) Establish whether biosocial issues form a constituent part of the current biology curriculum at senior secondary school level, and to identify important biology-related issues that should be included in the biology curriculum. The procedure used surveys from two separate sample populations practising biology teachers (N=99) and student teachers (N=93 who were at final year of their Secondary Teachers Diploma. Data were computer-analyzed using frequencies and percentages, ranking and cross tabulations. The study is broadly structured around nine chapters. The first chapter gives an overall orientation to the study and further elucidation of methodology is in Chapter 5. Chapter 2 specifically treats the impact of African education on biology education in South Africa. Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the conceptual sources and relationships which exist between science, technology, society and the relevance of biology education in the African communities of South Africa. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 deal with empirical data in the form of field survey responses, analysis and interpretation. The overall summary of the study, its implications and conclusions are presented in Chapter 9. The major conclusions of the study are: First, that biology teachers and student-teachers identified the most important biology-related problems in the north-coastal region of Natal as food and water resources, health and diseases, energy resources and nature conservation. Secondly, that whereas most teachers and student-teachers indicated that they were knowledgeable about these problems, the nature of their understanding was mostly a narrow and factual view of the concepts which neglected the social perspective. Thirdly, both teachers and student-teachers rely heavily on the schools and textbooks as sources of information. However evidence from an analysis of biology syllabuses used in secondary schools indicates that there is over-emphasis of factual knowledge and little reference to the application of that knowledge to life situations. As a result, textbooks which are closely modelled along the dictates of syllabuses, have little or no worthwhile information on biosocial issues. Fourthly, that to make the biology curriculum relevant to the needs and interest of the African community, biosocial issues that were identified as important should be incorporated in the biology curriculum. The study has important implications for the goals of biology education, the selection of biology content offered in schools, and the involvement of teachers in curriculum development. In the north coastal region of Natal, biology education does not contribute to better understanding of one's environment that could lead to the solution of problems and improving the quality of life in the community. Involvement of teachers in the selection of biology content which is viewed as important for fulfilling community needs and interests should be considered because teachers know and can articulate the aspirations of their local communities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1993.

A computer animated learning environment, INFECTRON, was developed to teach learning disabled (LD) and non learning disabled (NLD) students a biology lesson, INFECTRON uses two different modalities, auditory (narration) and visual (animation), exposing students to dual information processing codes (verbal, spatial), allowing them the flexibility to use a learning style they prefer. INFECTRON teaches students how the body protects itself from invading germs. Students were presented the animation and oral narration concurrently, successively and compared to a control group. Subjects were 30 LD and 30 NLD in grades 7 and 8 attending a large comprehensive high school in Montreal. Measures included a pretest, posttest, reasoning tasks, and a retention test. Results indicated that students (LD and NLD) in the computer conditions (concurrent and successive) outperformed students (LD and NLD) in the control condition on the pre, post and reasoning tasks. No significant differences were found between students (LD and NLD) in the concurrent group and students (LD and NLD) in the successive group on the post test and reasoning tasks. No group differences were found between the LD and NLD students in the computer conditions. It was confirmed that INFECTRON benefits both LD students and NLD students, allowing LD students to perform at par with NLD students on these biology measures.