Could philosophy inform biology education?

Abstract

This paper reports on the rationale of a study that aims at exploring whether philosophical theories of concept formation can inform biology education. Thus, we will first summarize some basic philosophical theories that try to explain how humans form concepts like ANIMAL, FISH, etc. And then, we will suggest that such theories can help us design learning environments to promote rigorous mechanisms of concept formation and facilitate young children in the classification of living organisms and the construction of a more meaningful understanding of the biological world.