Metrological Concepts in Biology Courses in Higher Education

Abstract The natural sciences rely on both qualitative and quantitative observations in various experimental settings, highlighting the critical role of measurements. Concepts of metrology—the science of measurement—have historically been mainly developed in physics studies or for industrial processes. In the field of education, we suggest that acculturation to key concepts of metrology might enhance students’ understanding of measurement-related issues and improve their confidence in scientific results. Although biostatistics education employs some metrological methods, adaptation to the specific characteristics of the disciplines that study living systems is needed in university biology courses. This exploratory study investigates the extent to which teaching goals associated with measurement are addressed and whether concepts and methods of metrology are included in the first years of university degree of biology in France. We focus on course materials provided to students, teachers’ perspectives, and on teaching goals. The analysis is based on a framework that includes the following 5 dimensions: type of data and measurement, implementation, management, results and values processing, and interpretation. The reported results reveal that, although some aspects of measurement are addressed, they are not a learning issue. In particular, questions of data validity and measurement reliability are rarely raised by university biology teachers.