SPONSORED ARTICLE
This article was provided by SimBio as part of its sponsorship of SABER. The content and views expressed are those of the sponsor and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER).
Activating the "Reading" Portion of Biology Classes: Does it Work?
Numerous studies presented at meetings of the Society for Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) support a clear hypothesis: active approaches to teaching and learning lead to a superior understanding of biology when compared to passively presenting "just the facts." This data has inspired SABER members to integrate active learning strategies across their classes, including interactive lectures, Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), and take-home assignments that promote higher-order thinking. Still, one major component of many biology classes remains more passive: assigned at-home textbook readings. While the readings may have associated questions or other structure, fundamentally, the student is expected to be introduced to biological ideas through passive reading.
Over the past decade, simulation-based materials developed by SimBio have increasingly been used in place of traditional textbook readings to turn passive reading assignments into an active discovery of biological concepts. This offers instructors a low-effort, high-impact way to transform passive homework readings into an active exploration of biological concepts. SimBio offers a comprehensive selection of tutorials for introductory biology and interactive ecology chapters for second- and third-year ecology students. We know from numerous studies that, as with other active learning approaches, the simulation-based experiments and interactives in SimBio’s teaching tools aid student learning of challenging concepts, whether teaching experimental design, diffusion, cellular respiration, action potentials, natural selection, or other tricky topics in biology.
Still, many instructors ask: Do students learning independently at home with interactive teaching tools receive the same academic benefits as those learning in class alongside their peers and instructors?
A recent study published in The American Biology Teacher confirms that they do. Donkoh et al. (2025) compared students using SimBio's interactive tools in an in-person traditional classroom setting against those using them at home. The study revealed virtually no difference in student learning outcomes between the two groups. The results indicated that well-structured exploratory tools can help students understand biological fundamentals at-home, coming to class prepared to build on that foundation.
SimBio’s Director of Research, Eli Meir, is always interested in pursuing new studies that can help improve interactive biology teaching tools and student outcomes. Eli is often at SimBio’s booth at SABER meetings and enjoys talking with conference attendees, but also feel free to reach out via email (research@simbio.com). Eli will be happy to discuss this article and other related research findings, to consider whether there might be ways of collaborating, and/or show the SimBio modules involved in our research!
