DEVELOPMENT OF EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES IN BIOLOGY MAJOR COURSE AT HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

The modern educational process reform considers a competence approach as a way to achieve the expected learning outcomes. Following the approach in 2017 the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine updated the curricula for general secondary education institutions. The main change is as follows: the focus was shifted from content to learning outcomes. The point of expected learning outcomes as part of the competence approach is widely discussed in the educational environment. At the same time, the issue of achieving the expected learning outcomes while studying the specific chapters of the “Biology and Ecology” curriculum for secondary schools, in our opinion, has not been closely studied. The purpose of the article is to provide evidence that the development of expected learning outcomes by tenth-graders (with Biology as major) while studying the topic “Exchange of Matter and Energy” is quite achievable. The difference between the concepts of “competence” and “expected learning outcomes”, corresponding to secondary education Biology curriculum (standard and profound variants) is emphasized. The approach to teaching this issue is offered. It allows students to develop such expected learning outcomes defined by school curriculum as the ability to qualify, explain, and give examples of basic Biology and Ecology laws. It has been stressed that while learning and mentation the following knowledge component of expected learning outcomes is realized: students use the terms “metabolism”, “homeostasis”, “epigenesis”. The attitude component is realized by getting aware of the fact that body parts need to be constantly renewed. The offered logic of educational material communication makes students effective in getting knowledge about certain biological facts and phenomena. In certain case, it is the ability to explain wildlife phenomena with the help of the scientific method of inquiry elements. The task examples given are to develop students’ ability to predict changes in cell and body metabolism under the influence of external factors, and the ability to seek independently for new information about the bio- and ecosystems functioning features. The justified teaching educational material includes a general abstract thesis, which on being stated at the beginning of a chapter, gets new substantiations with students acquiring knowledge of biological phenomena. The author believes that for expected learning outcomes, it is meaningful to study everything related to enzyme catalysis, in conjunction with milieu interior and body balance control. The possible variant to explain and develop the concept of “metabolic pathway”, necessary for students to predict metabolism dynamics, is described.