Understanding of nature (and nature conservation) in specialised disciplines and amongst school pupils

“How should we treat nature?” In the face of perceived environmental destruction, people ask themselves how we should live, what stance we should adopt towards nature, and whether it is right to interfere with nature. Within the context of environmental education, our relationship with nature is also a key topic in biology lessons and requires not only the teaching of specialist biological knowledge but also the incorporation of ethical reflection into the curriculum. These two aspects are not unrelated; indeed, every ethical framework for the protection of nature explicitly or implicitly draws on ecological concepts and thus on conceptions of nature. In the context of nature conservation, these include, in particular, conceptions of equilibrium, stability and change in nature.

Against this background, my research project examines subject-specific conceptions and pupils’ conceptions of equilibrium and change, the associated general conceptions of nature, and the ethical implications arising from these conceptions.

The theoretical framework for the study is the model of didactic reconstruction, in which learners’ empirically gathered, everyday conceptions are systematically compared with scientifically clarified disciplinary concepts, in order to make decisions regarding content and plan learning pathways for the pupils on this basis.

The study is qualitative in nature. In the empirical part, I collect the conceptions of pupils in classes 10 and 11 through group discussions and problem-centred individual interviews. The data obtained and the subject-specific sources are analysed using content analysis and formulated as generalised categories. A comparative analysis is used to identify correspondences between the conceptions of subject specialists and pupils that either hinder or promote learning. Building on this foundation, guidelines for biology teaching will be developed to provide pupils with access to current concepts in ecology and to enable them to reflect on the ethical implications associated with different conceptions of nature.

Sander, E. (2002). Scientific concepts and student perceptions of "biological balance" - A research project within the framework of the Didactic Reconstruction Model. In: Klee, R. & Bayrhuber, H. (Eds.). Lehr- und Lernforschung in der Biologiedidaktik, vol. 1. Innsbruck: Studienverlag, 61 - 73.

Sander, E. (2003). Descriptive and normative elements in learners' understanding of nature - An investigation against the background of changing perspectives in ecology and nature conservation. In: Bauer, A. et al. (Eds.). Entwicklung von Wissen und Kompetenzen im Biologieunterricht, Kiel: IPN, 183 - 186.

Jelemenská, P., Sander, E. & Kattmann, U. (2003). Model didaktickej rekonštrukcie. Impulz pre výskum v odborových didaktikách. Pedagogika. 190 - 201.

Sander, E. (2003). Harmonious-stable or flowing nature? On the understanding of nature in ecology and among learners. In: Vogt, H.; Krüger, D. & Unterbruner, U. (Eds.). The path of knowledge in biology didactics. Contributions to the 5th Spring School of the Biology Didactics Section of the Vdbiol in Salzburg, 83 - 90.

Sander, E.; Jelemenska, P. & Kattmann, U. (2004). Where does oxygen come from? Reflections on the geological-biological imbalance, Unterricht Biologie 299, 20 - 24.

Janßen-Bartels, A. & Sander, E. (2004). Generalisation of qualitative data in biology didactic teaching and learning research. In: Gropengießer, H.; Janßen-Bartels, A. & Sander, E. (Eds.). Teaching for life. Didactic reconstruction in biology. Cologne: Aulis, 109 - 118 (9 pp.).

Bögeholz, S.; Hößle, C.; Langlet, J.; Sander, E. & Schlüter, K. (2004). Evaluating - Judging - Deciding in a biological context: Models in biology didactics. ZfDN, vol. 10, 88 - 114.

Jelemenska, P.; Sander, E. & Kattmann, U. (in press). Towards a better understanding of ecology. Results of two studies conducted within the framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction. Proceedings of the Vth ERIDOB-Conference.

Sander, E. (in prep.). Understanding of nature and ethical ideas - sequence analysis of group discussions. In: Gerhard, M.; Gropengießer, H. & Kattmann, U. (Eds.). Handbook on subject-didactic teaching and learning research.

Gropengießer, H. & Sander, E. (in prep.). Pupils' understandings of biological phenomena - problem-centred guided interviews. In: Gerhard, M.; Gropengießer, H. & Kattmann, U. (Eds.). Handbook on subject-didactic teaching and learning research.

Editorships

Gropengießer, H.; Janßen-Bartels, A. & Sander, E. (eds.) (2004). Teaching for life. Didactic reconstruction in biology. Cologne: Aulis.

Biosciences in School and Public - Anniversary Conference on the 25th Anniversary of the Biology Didactics Section of the VDBiol, 16 - 21 September 2001, Rendsburg (Lecture: Scientific Concepts and Pupils' Perceptions of Biological Equilibrium).

Vierte Frühjahrs-Schule der Sektion Biologie-Didaktik im Verband Deutscher Biologen (vdbiol), 22 - 24 March 2002, Rostock - Warnemünde (Lecture: Harmonisch-stabile oder "fließende" Natur? - On the understanding of nature in ecology and in the lifeworld conceptions of pupils).

Fourth conference of european researchers in didaktik of biology (ERIDOB), October 22nd - October 26th 2002, Toulouse (poster presentation: Sander, E. & Jelemenská. Conceptions of nature in scientific research and in the mind of learners).

1st Göttingen Conference for Empirical Teaching and School Research on the main topic "Heterogeneity - Differentiation - Integration", 12 - 13 June 2003 (presentation: Conceptions of learners and scientists about nature and human interaction with nature - A research project in the context of didactic reconstruction).

International conference of the Biology Didactics Section of the vdbiol "Development of knowledge and competences in biology teaching", 14 - 19 September 2003, Berlin (Lecture: Descriptive and normative elements in learners' understanding of nature - An investigation against the background of the change of perspective in ecology and nature conservation).

Fifth conference of european researchers in didaktik of biology (ERIDOB), September 21st - 25th 2004, Patras - Greece (oral presentation: Sander, E. & Jelemenska. Towards a better understanding of ecology).

International conference of the Biology Didactics Section of the VDBiol, "Bildungsstandards Biologie", 27 February - 4 March 2005, Bielefeld (moderation of a poster presentation, together with Prof. Dr Harald Gropengießer, University of Hanover).

Further lectures

"Lectures by external scientists" at the Institute for Didactics of Geography, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 17 July 2003 (Lecture: The ideal is that the biological balance remains - The ideas of subject scientists and students as the subject of subject didactic research within the framework of the model of didactic reconstruction).

From the summer semester of 2001 to the winter semester of 2004/05 at Carl von Ossietzky University in the Biology Education Research Group.


Course titles:

• Key topics in biology teaching – environmental education
• School-based experiments in human biology
• Ethics in biology teaching
• New media and biology teaching
• Introduction to Biology Education