ASE 2025 Annual Conference

The aim of this session is to provide insights into the classroom practices of expert biology teachers as they support students to think critically. In this study, critical thinking—sometimes referred to as higher-order thinking—means encouraging students to analyse, evaluate, and infer. The study involved designing a set of critical thinking tasks for students to complete and exploring the teacher’s responses both in the classroom (including marking student work) and during a reflective interview.

The teacher’s actions were analysed in terms of those that encourage student accuracy (knowledge) and those that encourage student care (behaviours). From the pilot study, it appears that the teacher’s beliefs—particularly their ideas about teaching, critical thinking, and their students—shape the depth of critical thinking that students are encouraged to engage in.

In this session, we will consider how the teaching of biology has been conceptualised, explore the actions of teachers in the pilot study and share insights into the design of resources that provide a foundation for critical thinking during lesson time.