OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The median citation count of Journal of Biological Education is 1. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2022-05-01 to 2026-05-01.)

Article	Citations
A three-pronged method to analyse pre-service teachers’ understanding and epistemic reasoning about soil	54
The potential of a fantasy story picture book for learning biology in early years	27
Modelling the immune system and vaccines through design-based research	16
Measuring students’ plant awareness: A prerequisite for effective botany education	16
Investigation of middle school and high school students’ ecosystem knowledge through their drawings	16
The influence of spatial ability on undergraduate students’ tree-thinking ability	15
Fictional placemaking creating meaningful contexts for causal reasoning in secondary school biology education	14
Open Schooling to raise student awareness and engagement: the case of tackling Antimicrobial Resistance	12
Combining virtual simulations with take-home projects as a replacement for face-to-face labs in introductory biology laboratory courses	10
Teachers’ views of Future-Oriented Pedagogy as part of inquiry-based molecular biology teaching in high school biology laboratories	9
“ I felt happy to see animals because they are kind .” How zoological environments shape primary school students’ emotional engagement and interest in science learning	9
Student informed development of virtual reality simulations for teaching and learning in the molecular sciences	9
Laboratory class for isoenzymes teaching: simulation of creatine kinase electrophoresis using dyes	8
The purpose of the school garden is more than just growing plants	8
The Conceptual Analysis of Disciplinary Evidence (CADE) framework as a guide for evidentiary reasoning: A practical implementation in a Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) laboratory investigation	7
Roteiro Entre-Marés: an educational app for ocean literacy promotion	7
Exploring and comparing the difficulties among undergraduate and postgraduate students’ understanding of experimentation using primary scientific literature	7
Environmental literacy curriculum: an analysis of science textbooks for lower secondary education	7
Differences between image presentation and video presentation on the outcome of teaching about the menstrual cycle	7
Teaching for photosynthesis literacy: an education design research study	6
Application and exploration of blended learning with BOPPPS teaching model in a veterinary infectious diseases course	6
Flower or leaf characteristics, coloured or black and white illustrations – what helps student teachers to identify plants?	6
Nature benefits for teenagers	6
Addressing plant awareness in Chile: insights from high school students	6
Use of design thinking as a strategy to identify and clear students’ misconceptions in photosynthesis: a case study	6

What is ‘research-led teaching’ and how can we deliver it in University STEM degrees?	6
Plant awareness: at the dawn of a new era	6
What is the future of knowledge?	6
“Bacteria are not viruses; viruses are more malicious” - young pupils’ understanding of bacteria and viruses in the aftermath of COVID-19	6
Pre-service teachers’ ideas about the path of water through the body and their intentions about explaining it to preschool children	5
Teaching Greek and Latin morphemes: a Classics course correlates with improved biology and anatomy student outcomes	5
In awe of awe	5
Higher education and professional performance: gaps and opportunities for developing professional skills in marine biologist graduates	5
The role of the education sector in shaping a sustainable future	5
Plants and the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework: educational approaches to support pro-conservation behaviours	5
Alcohol misuse affects learning in school and university students: a role for biological education	5
The role of biology teachers in epistemically insightful health and wellbeing education: a case study of the English relationships, sex and health education curriculum	4
Whole-school approach to sustainability: an in-depth study of six green schools in Sweden and Türkiye	4
Decolonisation and socio-political arenas in science education: reflecting on the role of biological education	4
Innovations in microbiological research education: a practical approach for investigating the effects of graphene oxide sheet nanomaterial on opportunistic pathogen viability	4
Anthropocentrism in biology teaching and learning	4
Assessing the knowledge and attitude of middle and higher secondary school students towards waterbirds in Bhutan	4
Conceptions of primary school students and trainee teachers about seed germination	4
From reflection to framework: investigating biology pre-service teachers’ understanding of genetic information flow, exchange, and storage (IFES)	4
Investigating student experiences of botanical field work using a semi-immersive virtual botanical fieldtrip	4
Impact of outdoor place-based learning on elementary school students’ ability to make unsolicited observations about living organisms over time	4
Characterisation of the pedagogical knowledge of evolution content using the mapping approach	4
Exploring individual differences in photosynthesis and respiration knowledge in the context of green plants	3
University students’ misconceptions of cellular structures and functions	3
The medium matters! The effect of a mobile digital identification tool on students’ intrinsic motivation during plant identification	3
What do clean and dirty hands of primary school pupils look like?	3
Between biology and religion: dialogue in the Saudi primary science classroom	3
What Jane Goodall taught us	3
Learning outcomes of transforming cutting-edge iPSC research into informal science courses for upper secondary school students	3
Game-based learning to improve understanding of point mutations at secondary school level	3
Computational Modelling in High School Biology: A Teaching Intervention	3
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein produced by transgenic rice: research laboratory experience with secondary science students	3
Incomplete information or misconception?: investigation of pre-service science teachers’ knowledge and understanding of enzymes	3
Cough, sneeze, pass it on – pupils’ understanding of infectious diseases in the aftermath of COVID-19	3
Teaching for sustainable development in vocational education	3
Not all Bloom and gloom: assessing constructive alignment, higher order cognitive skills, and their influence on students’ perceived learning within the practical components of an undergraduate biolog	3
Exploring the local vegetation: botanical inquiry trail, an interactive journey of learning	3
S im H yb 2: a software tool to explore and illustrate evolutionary forces in population genetics	3
Promoting dialogue in the feedback process: face-to-face marking of assignments with biomedical science students	3
Is it time to remove Mendel from the school curriculum?	3
Student reasoning during socio-scientific issues-based learning with a role play: a case study of breastfeeding versus milk formula	3
When less is more in living systems: subtractive cognitive biases and life science learning	3
What is a hypothesis anyway? A synthesis of perspectives and implications for undergraduate biology education based on publications in PLOS biology	3
Lots to remember, but not a lot to think about? Using mass-participation online outreach to change students’ perception of biology	3
Opportunities for improving the student experience of science education	3
What is ‘powerful knowledge’ in school biology?	3
An interest-oriented laboratory microbial engineering course is helpful for the cultivation of scientific literacy	3
Development and validation of a classroom observation protocol for crosscutting concepts (COPCC) for secondary biology	2
Development and validation of an instrument measuring students’ self-efficacy regarding explaining evolutionary changes	2
Engaging seventh-grade students in prediction-observation-explanation of plant absorbance/transport phenomena: impact on relational conceptual changes and scientific inquiry abilities	2

Environmental education to engage urban youth: anecdotes from Southwest China	2
Do textbooks provide opportunities to develop meaningful botanical literacy? A case study of the scientific model of plant nutrition	2
Complexity and phenotype in human origins: an integrated pathway to renew the teaching of evolution	2
Designing and evaluation of 3D materials for teaching biological systems to 6 ^th grade students with visual impairment (SVI)	2
Learning genetics through an innovative game: Geneblock	2
Muslim students’ appreciation of biological theory of evolution: the Netherlands case	2
Guiding students’ explanations across levels of biological organisation: the case of wilted plants	2
Understanding agency in evolutionary explanations: an assessment tool for biology education	2
The well-fed do not understand the hungry or pupils’ knowledge of how the digestive system works	2
Effects of online tours at the zoo and natural history museum on interest in extant and extinct animals	2
Using group metacognitive scaffolds in biology education to improve the collaborative problem-solving skills of high school students	1
Beyond ChatGPT: a review of the use of AI tools in biological education	1
Improving access to practical molecular biology: development and evaluation of a university-led PCR workshop for schools	1
How can students learn about photosynthesis? The outcomes of a teaching design based on the Photosynthesis Literacy Framework	1
Reflecting on the relevance of drawing as a tool in eliciting pre-service teachers’ preconceptions of human organs and organ systems	1
Integrating museum education into an introductory biology CURE leads to positive perceptions of scientific research and museum exhibitions among students, faculty, and staff	1
Increasing retention in STEM by improving GPA through peer mentors and course enrichments in introductory biology	1
Effective learning and testing of bird identification skills	1
Science on tap: using beer brewing to foster epistemic interest in upper secondary biology	1
Examining the use of ecology-related socio-scientific issue debate class using generative AI to improve middle school students’ science and AI literacy	1
The ‘Tea Test’ - a mobile phone based spectrophotometer protocol to introduce biochemical methods independent of the laboratory	1
Game-based learning in biodiversity education: designing and evaluating an educational escape game	1
Attitudes towards plants – exploring the role of plants’ ecosystem services	1
Realising the potential of ecological thinking in our universities	1
Epistemological and sociocultural challenges in the teaching of evolution: an analysis of Argentine biology teachers’ discourse	1
Mycelial education to cure fungal awareness disparity syndrome	1
Students’ perceptions of the presence of feral exotic pets and influencing factors	1
Cadaveric specimens versus synthetic models for learning gross human anatomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis	1
Contribution of 3D modelling and printing to learning in primary schools: a case study with visually impaired students from an inclusive Biology classroom	1
Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the academic performance of students of distance learning mode in Biological Sciences: a case study in Brazil	1
What animals live there? Exploring the factors influencing primary school children’s awareness of native and exotic fauna	1
The plant blindness and the humans-as-non-animals bias cycles in the educational system. The need to overcome them	1
General biology is important in Biomedical Science Education – we just need to make it easy to see the relevance	1
Fungi and me: exploring public perceptions of fungi, and experiential approaches to challenge fungus blindness, through outreach in the UK	1
Evolving UK biology education	1
Influencing the attitude towards hand hygiene and face masks by pathogen visualisation during the COVID-19 pandemic	1
Development and application of a five-tier diagnostic test to assess misconceptions on Life cycle of cells among senior high school students in Mainland China	1
Blending educational gaming with physical experiments to engage high school students in inquiry-based learning	1
Middle school students’ perception of marine and coastal environments	1
Ontological assumptions on the introduction of the concepts of cells and the functioning of living beings in school textbooks	1
Graph argument analysis: vaccination and the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 as a context to promote learning of molecular biology and argumentation	1
Project-based learning in biomedical sciences: using the collaborative creation of revision resources to consolidate knowledge, promote cohort identity and develop transferable skills	1
Sharpening the gaze, sharpening the pencil: supporting observational drawing in primary education	1
Using a metacognitive awareness approach to improve perception of the fundamental biological principle – homeostasis	1
Discussing pleasure: making the clitoris visible in biology education	1
Students’ conceptions of keeping fattening pigs and dairy cows: an exploratory interview study with elementary school students in North-West Germany	1
Creating an effective fluorescence microscopy lesson as a research experience for a science educator-in- training	1
Uncovering the potential of epistemic practice demands embedded in biology curriculum learning outcomes	1
Adapting undergraduate Biology to include science practices by teaching students to generate scientific explanations	1
Affordances of the mAR app Seek: enhancing species identification skills and plant awareness in student teachers’ fieldwork activities	1
Teaching evolution: attitudes & strategies of educators in Utah – an update 20 years later	1