Teaching and Learning Biology Using Authentic Tools and Databases: The Interaction between Scientific Knowledge Elements

The strategic vision proposal for the Programme for International Student Assessment in science for the year 2024, as well as of the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards in the United States, includes the vision that “every young person should be digitally and data literate.” Thus, engaging in the practice of analyzing and interpreting data is regarded as an essential experience in the teaching and learning of science. For the last two decades, we have been promoting the idea of using authentic databases for the teaching and learning of biology in high school. The use of such databases requires various proficiencies, including the use of computational tools and databases integrated with biological knowledge. Throughout the research, development and implementation that accompanied the promotion of this idea, we have continuously used various frameworks suggested for the examination of knowledge elements that are involved in the teaching and learning of science. In this chapter, we discuss these various theoretical frameworks of scientific knowledge elements and how they have influenced our research and development efforts to promote the teaching and learning of biology using authentic tools and databases.