TITLE

Biology Education in the Secondary Schools

AUTHOR(S)

Hurd, Paul DcHart; Bybee, Rodger W.; Kahle, Jane Butler; Yager, Robert E.

PUB. DATE

January 1981

SOURCE

Education Digest;Jan1981, Vol. 46 Issue 5, p56

SOURCE TYPE

Periodical

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on present state biology education in secondary schools in the U.S. as of 1981. The goals of biological knowledge, scientific methods, societal issues, personal needs and career awareness should be updated. Doing so would place the goals of biology teaching in a human ecological context. The textbook is the biology curriculum. Only three texts account for a majority of biology programs in the schools. The biology curriculum need to give much greater recognition to the central scientific and societal issues affecting students now and in the future. The quality of life must be the focus of the biology curriculum. The curriculum is now in the early stages of transition toward this goal. Biology teachers are traditional. They learn the subject of biology, but they do not learn to relate it to current issues or related disciplines, or how to present biological topics in an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary way. The biology teacher of the 1980s will have a broader-based training that results in a more comprehensive understanding of both biology and society. Although laboratory instruction has been stressed as crucial to biology education, less than half of all biology teachers regularly use laboratory activities.

ACCESSION #

18831287

Tags: BIOLOGY -- Study & teaching;  SECONDARY education;  CURRICULA (Courses of study);  BIOLOGY teachers;  LABORATORIES

 

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