Encouraging New Manuscripts in Critical Areas of Biology Education

Here is a brief discussion of the kinds of new manuscripts I would like to encourage. The American Biology Teacher needs articles in the critical areas of biology education listed below, all of which tend to be underrepresented in K——16 biology classroom curricula and instruction. •• Inquiry Biology Learning Activities in General This means authentic inquiry, not just attempts at inquiry or overly directed inquiry. Authentic inquiry means that students are engaged actively and meaningfully in all aspects of the inquiry process. These include (a) making interesting observations that will lead to puzzling questions; (b) formulating questions that have high potential to be addressed through classroom (or extended classroom) research; (c) crafting researchable hypotheses that predict the relationship between independent and dependent variables; (d) identifying assumptions and limitations of a specific research study; (e) determining an experimental plan with procedures that address the hypotheses; (f) listing materials, equipment, and resources needed, including space and time; (g) crafting a plan for data collection and the type of data intended; (h) stating a proposed …