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Fostering Understanding of Complex Systems in Biology Education

Pedagogies, Guidelines and Insights from Classroom-based Research

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Editors:
  1. Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf

    1. Graduate Program for Science and Technology Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

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  2. Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels

    1. Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

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  • Offers insights from classroom-based research for tracing students’ systems thinking throughout their learning process
  • Introduces elements of computer-based learning environments designed for complex systems
  • Advances approaches and theoretical frameworks for explicit guidance in using system language

Part of the book series: Contributions from Biology Education Research (CBER)

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About this book

This book synthesizes a wealth of international research on the critical topic of ‘fostering understanding of complex systems in biology education’. Complex systems are prevalent in many scientific fields, and at all scales, from the micro scale of a single cell or molecule to complex systems at the macro scale such as ecosystems. Understanding the complexity of natural systems can be extremely challenging, though crucial for an adequate understanding of what they are and how they work.

The term “systems thinking” has become synonymous with developing a coherent understanding of complex biological processes and phenomena. For researchers and educators alike, understanding how students’ systems thinking develops is an essential prerequisite to develop and maintain pedagogical scaffolding that facilitates students’ ability to fully understand the system’s complexity. To that end, this book provides researchers and teachers with key insights from the current research community onhow to support learners systems thinking in secondary and higher education. Each chapter in the book elaborates on different theoretical and methodological frameworks pertaining to complexity in biology education and a variety of biological topics are included from genetics, photosynthesis, and the carbon cycle to ecology and climate change. Specific attention is paid to design elements of computer-based learning environments to understand complexity in biology education.

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Theoretical Perspectives on Complex Systems in Biology Education

    • Karyn Housh, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Susan A. Yoon
    Pages 1-16

  3. Long Term Ecological Research as a Learning Environment: Evaluating Its Impact in Developing the Understanding of Ecological Systems Thinking – A Case Study

    • Shayli Dor-Haim, Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf
    Pages 17-40

  4. Involving Teachers in the Design Process of a Teaching and Learning Trajectory to Foster Students’ Systems Thinking

    • Melde G. R. Gilissen, Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels, Wouter R. van Joolingen
    Pages 41-62

  5. Supporting University Student Learning of Complex Systems: An Example of Teaching the Interactive Processes That Constitute Photosynthesis

    • Joseph Dauer, Jenny Dauer, Lyrica Lucas, Tomáš Helikar, Tammy Long
    Pages 63-82

  6. High School Students’ Causal Reasoning and Molecular Mechanistic Reasoning About Gene-Environment Interplay After a Semester-Long Course in Genetics

    • Marcus Hammann, Sebastian Brandt
    Pages 83-104

  7. Systems Thinking in Ecological and Physiological Systems and the Role of Representations

    • Sophia Mambrey, Andrea Wellmanns, Justin Timm, Philipp Schmiemann
    Pages 105-121

  8. The Zoom Map: Explaining Complex Biological Phenomena by Drawing Connections Between and in Levels of Organization

    • Niklas Schneeweiß, Harald Gropengießer
    Pages 123-149

  9. Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptual Schemata and System Reasoning About the Carbon Cycle and Climate Change: An Exploratory Study of a Learning Framework for Understanding Complex Systems

    • Gregor Torkar, Konstantinos Korfiatis
    Pages 151-169

  10. Teaching Students to Grasp Complexity in Biology Education Using a “Body of Evidence” Approach

    • Tina A. Grotzer, Emily Gonzalez, Eileen McGivney
    Pages 171-204

  11. Science Teachers’ Construction of Knowledge About Simulations and Population Size Via Performing Inquiry with Simulations of Growing Vs. Descending Levels of Complexity

    • Billie Eilam, Seena Yaseen Omar
    Pages 205-226

  12. Designing Complex Systems Curricula for High School Biology: A Decade of Work with the BioGraph Project

    • Susan A. Yoon
    Pages 227-247

  13. Lessons Learned: Synthesizing Approaches That Foster Understanding of Complex Biological Phenomena

    • Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf, Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels
    Pages 249-278
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Editors and Affiliations

  • Graduate Program for Science and Technology Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf

  • Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels

About the editors

Prof. Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf is former Chair of the Graduate Program for Science and Technology Education, at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel. Her work in science education focuses on issues such as: Design of informal outdoor learning environments; Cognitive based research into systems thinking in the field of Biology, Ecology and Earth sciences and development of environmental literacy and nature conservation within science education.

Dr. Marie-Christine Knippels is an Associate Professor in Science Education and former head of the Biology education team at the Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She is a biologist, holds a PhD in Genetics Education and completed a postdoc research project on moral reasoning in genomics-related dilemmas. Her research focuses on fostering metacognitive skills in biology education and promoting scientific literacy and citizenship, through design based research and Lesson study projects. She has (co)authoredarticles on ‘yo-yo thinking’, systems thinking, reasoning with models in biology education and socio-scientific issues. She has been involved in various European projects and networks, and led the EU-FP7 PARRISE project.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Fostering Understanding of Complex Systems in Biology Education

  • Book Subtitle: Pedagogies, Guidelines and Insights from Classroom-based Research

  • Editors: Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf, Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels

  • Series Title: Contributions from Biology Education Research

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98144-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-98143-3Published: 26 May 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-98146-4Published: 27 May 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-98144-0Published: 25 May 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2662-2319

  • Series E-ISSN: 2662-2327

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 278

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Science Education, Research Methods in Education, Education, general, Science and Technology Studies

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