“Our School’s Biodiversity”: Design and Evaluation of a Teaching–Learning Sequence for Prospective Primary Teacher Education

Species literacy and awareness is in decline among both primary students and their teachers. This is of particular concern in the context of the current unprecedented collapse in global biodiversity that threatens our wellbeing and our ability to cope with other global challenges. In this article we present a Teaching–Learning Sequence (TLS) about biodiversity implemented with Prospective Primary Teachers (PPT) designed to address this problem. The development of the TLS, centred on-campus organic learning gardens, deployed an iterative process of design, implementation, evaluation and refinement. This application of Design-Based Research methodology ultimately produced a didactic unit. We evaluated the TLS against both quantitative and qualitative criteria, including student’s learning outcomes. The results show that the inquiry-centred TLS contributed to conceptual and procedural learning gains, particularly regarding invertebrate identification. Additionally, the participating PPTs reported a closer connection to and awareness of nature and biodiversity. However, specific knowledge, especially around plant taxonomy, remained low. The paper concludes by identifying a number of limitations that are being taken into account for future refinement. Specifically, activities aimed at imparting a deeper understanding of habitats, and improving knowledge on the identification and classification of living beings will be included in future iterations.