Arguing from evidence is one of eight key science practices in which students should engage. It is an essential component of science, yet students have difficulties with this practice. We describe a scaffolded claims-evidence-reasoning (CER) argumentation framework that is embedded within a new eight-week, freely available curriculum unit developed by the Genetic Science Learning Center – Evolution: DNA and the Unity of Life . The scaffold provides high school students with practice in both developing and evaluating written arguments. It is designed to incrementally build student skill week-by-week, starting with an introduction to the CER components of an argument, and ending with students evaluating data and constructing a supported written argument. We also present evaluation findings from field testing the argumentation scaffold in the context of the complete Evolution unit in dozens of classrooms. And we discuss how this integrated, scaffolded approach to argumentation influenced both student and teacher learning.

Biology labs often make use of student teams. However, some students resist working in teams, often based on poor experiences. Although instructors sometimes struggle with student teams, effective teams in biology labs are achievable. We increased student learning and satisfaction when working in research teams by (1) including in the syllabus a teamwork learning objective “to practice effective teamwork and team management, including modeling behaviors of inclusion and ethics, and using leadership skills to foster problem solving, team communication, conflict management, consensus building, and idea generation”; and (2) designing and implementing exercises that teach students the value of working in a team and how to be part of an effective student team (e.g., developing shared expectations, creating norms of behavior and team culture, and building awareness of the importance of team conflict and likely student responses to such conflict). We also used individual and team reflections on team functioning, following formal online team assessment. This article presents details about our curricular innovations as well as pretest and posttest data demonstrating student attitudes and beliefs regarding teamwork. We experienced improved student satisfaction and success in introductory biology lab courses, as well as reduced instructor guesswork and stress regarding student teams.

Many students have very robust misconceptions about natural selection, stemming from intuitive theories that form a child's earliest understandings of the natural world. For example, students often imagine that species evolve in response to environmental pressures that cause a need for change and that all individuals in the population simultaneously respond to this need by adapting in order to survive. While children's intuitive theories are essential for comprehending many events in their daily experience, they can make learning the counterintuitive theories of science, like natural selection, challenging. To help students develop an understanding of natural selection, teachers need to guide them through an evaluation of the intuitive theory and its well-established scientific counterpart so that they see the failure of the intuitive theory to adequately explain the evidence. In other words, it is critical for the learner to confront his or her misconceptions to break them down, rather than fail to address them. This can be done by presenting students with graphical illustrations of how natural selection works and providing the tools to interpret them. Here we illustrate how to use such a tool, the Identify and Interpret (I 2 ) strategy.

Current reform efforts at all levels of biology education advocate for the integration of science content and practices and emphasize the importance of phenomena-driven inquiry. We describe an instructional sequence for teaching evolution by natural selection that addresses these goals by engaging students in parallel selection experiments with biological and digital model organisms. These activities address multiple learning objectives in the AP Biology Curriculum Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards while engaging students in authentic science practices to learn about natural selection. We also report results from pre and post assessments in an AP Biology class which demonstrate students' learning gains and increased acceptance of evolution.

Recent reforms in K-16 science education advocate for the integration of science content and practice. However, engaging students in authentic science practices can be particularly challenging for certain subjects such as evolution. We describe Avida-ED, a research-based platform for digital evolution that overcomes many of the challenges associated with using biological model organisms in the classroom. We then report the findings of a nationwide, multiple-case study on classroom implementation of Avida-ED and its influence on student understanding and acceptance of evolution. We found that engagement in lessons with Avida-ED both supported student learning of fundamental evolution concepts and was associated with an increase in student acceptance of evolution as evidence-based science. In addition, we found a significant, positive association between increased understanding and acceptance. We discuss the implications of supporting reform-based pedagogical practices with tools such as Avida-ED that integrate science content with authentic science practice.

National STEM education reform efforts call for increased emphasis on science practices, such as modeling. We describe an activity where students read a scientific blog post relating human gametogenesis to disease and then during class develop a model explaining why defects in meiotic machinery cause this disease. This interactive activity was implemented in two sections of an introductory biology course, each exceeding 150 students. Overall, students responded positively to the activity, and based on follow-up exam questions addressing the main learning goals of the modeling activity, about 70 percent of students mastered the learning objectives associated with the modeling activity.

Efforts to reform science education focus on implementing constructivist pedagogy to engage students in scientific practices, promote critical thinking, and provide students with relevant research experiences. In this spirit, this article presents authentic, inquiry-based activities utilizing the real-world bioscience behind wastewater treatment. The activities begin with a tour of a wastewater treatment facility, followed by a guided inquiry activity in which students enumerate E. coli levels from wastewater samples collected from different steps of the treatment process. Students then participate in an open-inquiry experiment to test a unique hypothesis. Learning about wastewater treatment introduces students to important biology content such as bioremediation, microbiology, and nutrient cycling. Additionally, students engage in science practices such as inquiry and constructing evidence-based explanations.

The National Research Council's Framework for K–12 Science Education and the resulting Next Generation Science Standards call for engaging students in the practices of science to develop scientific literacy. While these documents make the connections between scientific knowledge and practices explicit, very little attention is given to the shared values and commitments of the scientific community that underlie these practices and give them meaning. I argue that effective science education should engage students in the practices of science while also reflecting on the values, commitments, and habits of mind that have led to the practices of modern science and that give them meaning. The concept of methodological naturalism demonstrates the connection between the values and commitments of the culture of science and its practices and provides a useful lens for understanding the benefits and limitations of scientific knowledge.

Analyzing evolutionary relationships requires that students have a thorough understanding of evidence and of how scientists use evidence to develop these relationships. In this lesson sequence, students work in groups to process many different lines of evidence of evolutionary relationships between ungulates, then construct a scientific argument for a particular set of relationships as modeled in a cladogram. Visual and verbal scaffolds are used throughout the lessons to address common misconceptions and points of difficulty for students.

We analyzed the practitioner literature on lab-based instruction in biology in The American Biology Teacher between 2007 and 2012. We investigated what laboratory learning looks like in biology classrooms, what topics are addressed, what instructional methods and activities are described, and what is being learned about student outcomes. The practitioner literature reveals a focus on novel and innovative labs, and gaps in some biology topics. There is little description of student learning, but motivation and engagement are a primary concern of authors. There is little evidence of students addressing the nature of science in laboratories, and too few opportunities for authentic exploration of phenomena. We suggest that biology instruction can be strengthened by more rigorous practitioner research through increased professional collaboration between teachers and education researchers, increased focus on the synergy between content and teaching practice, and more rigor in reporting student outcomes.