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Senior High School Student Biology Learning in Interactive Teaching

Research in Science Education volume 40, pages 267–289 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper reports Grade 12 students’ biology learning during interactive teaching classes in 2001 in Taiwan. The researcher as teacher, working within an interpretive framework, set out to improve her senior high school student biology teaching and learning. An intervention based on a social constructivist view of learning was designed, implemented and evaluated. The findings of this study indicate that intervention students’ cognitive development was facilitated, their reasoning and social abilities were enhanced, and they enjoyed the lessons more. Their first term examination outcomes were comparable with those in the traditional teaching classes. This study, therefore, provides an example for how interactive teaching, based on a social constructivist view of learning, can be effectively used for teaching and learning biology in the senior high school in Taiwan.

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Acknowledgement

Thanks to the teachers and students participated in this study. Without their contributions, this research could not have been undertaken. Special thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable advice in the revision of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhongzheng Senior High School, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tan-Ni Lu

  2. Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Bronwen Cowie

  3. School of Education, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Alister Jones

Authors
  1. Tan-Ni Lu
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  2. Bronwen Cowie
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  3. Alister Jones
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Correspondence to Tan-Ni Lu.

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Lu, TN., Cowie, B. & Jones, A. Senior High School Student Biology Learning in Interactive Teaching. Res Sci Educ 40, 267–289 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-008-9107-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-008-9107-8

Keywords

  • A social constructivist view of learning
  • Interactive teaching
  • Pedagogical approaches