The content we teach in biology matters. It frames the imagination of future scientists, policy makers, medical professionals and all the future leaders in our classrooms. It also influences student belonging in these classrooms.
Given this importance, it is imperative that the biology of sex, gender, reproduction, sexual behavior, and orientation be taught accurately so that it captures the current understanding of biological complexity.
Biology is the study of the diversity of life—this includes diversity in sex, gender, reproduction, sexual behavior, and orientation. Biology offers a diversity of stories, systems, and models that instructors can employ. To transform biology education, we as instructors need knowledge and resources which is what this network set out to do.
The Better Biology Network aims to both gather together existing resources and produce novel ones to support biology instructors interested in teaching the complexity of reproduction, sex, gender, sexual behavior, and orientation. As biologists and biology education researchers, this network is committed to creating evidences-based resources including synthesis of the biology literature, developing and testing the effectiveness of educational materials, and exploring the impacts of this content on students. This website will become a hub for these resources.
On this website, you will find scientific research on the diversity of reproduction, sex, gender, sexual behavior, and orientation; evidence from the teaching literature on the impacts of how we teach this content; and teaching resources that can be used in a range of classrooms.
