The loss of biodiversity is a global and local problem and challenge. The problem is solvable only with changed behavior, which can be achieved through education. In the literature, there are no criteria for achieving biodiversity literacy despite internationally binding documents, such as the United Nations' Agenda 21 and Convention on Biological Diversity, which contain suggestions for biodiversity education. Remoteness from nature is having important consequences for children's overall well-being and development. They directly impact cognitive development and creativity. The nature deficit disorder and the thesis that the more high tech we become the more nature we need serve as a guide that reminds us of the importance of nature to child development. Eco-mindfulness can reduce nature deficit disorders. The use of these theoretical findings increases the positive attitude toward nature and at the same time toward biodiversity on a practical level. On a theoretical basis, we present the foundations of biodiversity literacy.

Assessment of student learning is crucial to capture accurately student understanding of core concepts and competencies as well as to provide relevant feedback for informing teaching and learning. Yet, many instructors in two-year and four-year undergraduate institutions rarely have pedagogical training to design fair instruction and assessments. This qualitative study describes changes occurring in the perspectives and practices of two postsecondary educators teaching introductory biology courses after participating in a one-day workshop on assessments and applying their new knowledge during course implementations. The assessment workshop emphasized the use of “backward design” for course planning and alignment. Learnings particularly focused on using Bloom's taxonomy and best practices in assessment design. Data from educators' interviews and samples of their course documents revealed encouraging findings. Even after a short intervention, the educators took initiatives to align course objectives, learning activities, and assessments. And notwithstanding the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, they also made some changes in formulating and communicating objectives with students, introduced relevant learning activities, and revised assessment questions to reflect best practices. The article discusses these findings and offers the next steps for research on supporting educators to design fair assessments and courses for undergraduate instruction.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were proposed in 2013 in the United States for K–12 learning to emphasize the importance of science and engineering practices in the three dimensions of science learning. In this study, we show that DNA extraction experiments, which are familiar in the United States, can be used not only as demonstration experiments but also as educational material for science practices. We could visualize extracted DNA using an enzyme treatment with DNase and RNase and agarose gel electrophoresis. We conducted a science practice in which a DNA extraction experiment was used as an extracurricular club activity in Japan. The students made predictions, conducted experiments, obtained results, and reflected on their findings. Although there are still points needing improvement, our results indicate that the DNA extraction experiment can be used as a new teaching material for NGSS science practices.

Generating ideas and then testing predictions are important parts of the scientific process. In this laboratory exercise, I begin by challenging students to think about the reasons that the number of species on an island will increase or decrease. In small groups, students discuss how species richness changes over time and how rates of extinction and colonization will change depending on island size, distance from the mainland, and number of species already on the island. Students will make and test predictions using model islands and bean “species” only after they have come up with their own ideas of how species number changes over time and made predictions in the form of a graph. Last, students go outside and test the effect of area on the number of species found on a nonisland “island” (such as a wooded patch between sidewalks). This quick exercise allows students to differentiate between hypotheses and predictions and introduces such terms as sample size and replication while allowing for discussions about when the data don't always match predictions.

Nontraditional teaching modalities have become the new normal, where hybrid and online education are bound to become an integral component of education at all levels. This paper suggests the coupling of the flipped classroom model with the 5E instructional model for students to develop science understandings and practices in a hybrid and online environment. We demonstrate our model through a middle school unit on animal adaptation and natural selection. In our model, the teacher involves students with asynchronous online activities that raise students' curiosity and help them develop the concepts before the face-to-face or synchronous class activities. The complementary interactive online asynchronous and face-to-face or synchronous activities aim to promote critical thinking and communication on one hand and NGSS Core Ideas and Science Practices on the other. This paper concludes that science teachers can benefit from this model to engage students in inquiry-based activities in both hybrid or remote learning.

Biological terms describing abnormal numbers of chromosomes, such as polyploidy, eupolyploidy, aneuploidy, autopolyploidy, and allopolyploidy, can be confusing to students. A card-sorting activity designed to expose high school students to these key terms used in the evolution and genetics units of biology classes allows them to visualize these concepts. Students work with classmates to organize key terms with matching definitions and diagrams. The activity will solidify students' knowledge and understanding about different chromosomal abnormalities that can result from nondisjunction occurring in meiosis or from mating with different species, which may lead to sympatric speciation. The culmination of the activity includes students using their inquiry-based skills to investigate mystery plant and animal cards and determining if they are autopolyploid or allopolyploid organisms.

In the 21st century, which is often characterized by fake news and pseudoscientific claims, it is important that students should engage with the tenets of science, and how it differs from pseudoscience. The Rationality Index for Plant Use (RIPU) tool, introduced in this article, could be used in a problem-based and cooperative learning activity, where students explore the tenets of respectively science and pseudoscience. During such a learning activity, students will engage with scientific literature to either find support for hypotheses, or to nullify it. The activity also holds affordances to sensitize students toward the processes of science and the realization that scientists publish their findings in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals.

Inspired by the inaccessibility of laboratory experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, we designed an at-home experiment on diet and diabetes for a high school (9th grade) life science course. It promotes active learning through an affordable experiment, embedded hyperlinks, and video content to make virtual learning exciting and accessible.

Citizen science programs, like FrogWatch USA, offer simple training guidelines to collect field data, which provides records across broad geographical locations, allowing for the study of population trends on a large scale. Due to the relative ease of implementing the protocol, this program can easily be used in undergraduate and high school courses to provide an active learning environment and independent research opportunities. Here, we describe how FrogWatch USA call surveys were paired with traditional trapping surveys and conclude that call surveys can be useful in ecological monitoring. We suggest recommendations on how this program can be utilized in different settings and across disciplines.