Research project
System Thinking through Perspectives in Biology Education
Is system thinking through perspectives the solution for biology education to help students see the connections between different topics?
- Duration
- 2024 - 2027
- Contact
- Berber de Jong
- Funding
- NRO Post-doc research
Researchers
- dr. Berber de Jong
- dr. Michiel Dam
- prof.dr.ir. Fred Janssen
Project description
Many students in secondary education experience biology as complicated and lacking coherence. There is a lot of subject matter, and the connections between topics are often hard to see. My research focuses on an innovative approach to address this problem: system thinking through perspectives.
What is system thinking?
System thinking helps you to not only look at separate parts, but also at how those parts work together within a larger whole (system). For example, students learn how organs work together within an organ system, or how changes at the cellular level affect the functioning of an organism.
The power of perspectives
Although system thinking can help students see coherence, teaching it proves to be a major challenge. My research investigates how system thinking can be taught to students by using perspectives. A perspective is a way of looking at a biological system, for example from the viewpoint of ecology, evolution, or behavior. By asking questions from such perspectives, students discover connections between topics and learn to understand biology better. Examples of questions about, for instance, a snake: What does a snake eat? How does a snake defend itself? Where does this snake live in the wild? How does a snake reproduce?
What does the research look like?
The research consists of three phases:
- Development of lessons: Based on literature and conversations with experts, I design lessons for different year groups in secondary education, in which perspectives are used to promote system thinking among biology students.
- Testing in practice: The lessons are implemented at my own school and at other secondary schools. For this, I collaborate with other teachers in a professional learning community (PLC) to further develop the lessons.
- Evaluation and improvement: We analyze to what extent perspectives help to promote system thinking and how teachers can best work with perspectives.
Why is this important?
Students who learn to think in systems are better prepared to understand complex issues such as climate change or health problems. They learn to make connections, think critically, and make well-considered decisions. Moreover, we expect that this approach will help students see the coherence between different biological topics across multiple organizational levels, which could lead to a decrease in the feeling of being overwhelmed by the biology curriculum.
Participate?
For this research, I am collaborating with students and teachers from various schools. Teachers who are interested in this research and/or would like to participate can contact me.