PGDipTHE

Biology is a difficult and boring subject for many students and university enrollments for the discipline all over the world have not been encouraging for the past decade. One of the main reasons for the poor "image" of biology has always been blamed on the descriptive and jargon-filled nature of the discipline. With the current emphasis on the life sciences in Singapore, there is a dire need to review and develop biology teaching strategies that would facilitate the learning of the discipline as well as improve the attitudes of students to the subject and to themselves.

In this study, some major theories on the improvement of biology teaching are outlined. This is followed by a systematic review of specifically designed teaching strategies such as (1) the word roots system to overcome the terminology syndrome; (2) appropriate use of multimedia; (3) problem based learning (PBL); (4) outdoors and field based laboratories and, assessment strategies.

Results of a survey administered to the author's students showed that students were highly positive about the learning, teaching and assessment strategies implemented in the modules that the author taught (i.e., NAB311 "Invertebrate Zoology", BAB203 "Lower and Higher Animals", NAB319 "Ecology and Biostatistics" and NRE381 "Research Exercise"). Further modifications in the curricula of the various modules to improve the teaching of biology were briefly discussed based on the results of the survey and current literature.