A Place for the Nature of Biology in Biology Education

Abstract

Advancements in fields like genetics, medicine, and conservation ecology have established the prominent role of biology among the sciences in the 21st century.  Despite its current importance, the life sciences have been overshadowed by the methods and philosophy of the physical sciences.  Although the nature of biology and the physical sciences share many common aspects, the focus of biology – life – has generated diverse perspectives in relationship to such topics as essentialism, determinism, and ethics. With the release of the Framework for K-12 Science Education, the time is right to explore how unique aspects of the nature of biology might contribute to students’ understanding of core disciplinary ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific practices.  This position paper synthesizes existing literatures to highlight diverse and sometimes contested perspectives of the nature of biology, how these perspectives are in some ways similar to the physical sciences and in other ways quite different, why these differences matter for biology education, and opportunities and obstacles for the integration of the nature of biology into biology classrooms.