Terry M. Bella
The content presented in biology is extremely complicated, obscure, but relevant, and our students do not seem interested. Yes, the average AP Biology student is interested, and this intrinsic self-motivation has a lot to do with why the AP student is a successful student. I am talking about the majority of the other students that seem disinterested in the content. It is perplexing that students do not have questions nor obvious curiosity about the study of life. I do not believe that the content lacks intrigue, it must be that the presentation is flawed in some way. I believe that student interest will be piqued if the content is connected to their interests and lives.
The students are not asking questions because they cannot see the connection between enzymes and their everyday lives. Once the connection is established the questions will come. We need to motivate students to pose questions because it is in their nature to. With questioning comes interest and investment in the class. With increased investment we will have better performing students. As teachers we really cannot do anything more than to generate a desire to learn and then support the learning. We cannot make a student learn. Focusing on generating that desire we must present our content in a context that has relevance to the students.