Hard-to-Teach Biology Concepts: A Framework to Deepen Student Understanding

This well-researched book provides a valuable instructional framework for high school biology teachers as they tackle five particularly challenging concepts in their classrooms—meiosis, photosynthesis, natural selection, proteins and genes, and environmental systems and human impact. The author counsels educators first to identify students’ prior conceptions, especially misconceptions, related to the concept being taught, then to select teaching strategies that best dispel the misunderstandings and promote the greatest student learning.


The book is not a prescribed set of lessons plans. Rather it presents a framework for lesson planning, shares appropriate approaches for developing student understanding, and provides opportunities to reflect and apply those approaches to the five hard-to-teach topics. More than 300 teacher resources are listed.