Joyful Biology
with Dr. Megan Olivia Hall, NBCT, Ph.D.
2013-2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
Joyful Biology
Joyful Biology’s core components are:
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Culturally relevant, standards-based case studies that explore intellectually rigorous content through meaningful scientific discourse.
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Cooperative inquiry tasks that rely on structured student roles within flexible groups to explore open-ended, standards-based scientific questions.
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Support for student success and maximum credit acquisition through explicit instruction and personalized interventions.
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Enrichment projects that invite students to access deeper learning through multiple points of entry, including but not limited to visual arts, story telling, and scientific collections.
Joyful Biology’s core components draw on standards-based grading theory, Cohen and Lotan’s groupwork theory, Heacox’s guides for effective differentiation, Popham’s formative assessment theory, Hatti’s visible learning theory, and EL Education pedagogical frameworks.
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