Engaging History of Biology

American Biology Teacher has published over seven dozen articles relevant to the history of biology in biology teaching. They are cataloged here and indexed by topic. As reflected in this archive, teachers adopt a historical approach for many pragmatic motivations: (1) to engage students, by contextualizing science culturally; (2) to foster student interest through storytelling; (3) to promote the human dimension of science and offer role models; (4) to exemplify and nurture scientific reasoning; and (5) to convey the ever elusive “nature of science.” Here, I summarize and comment on those aims and their relation to the Next Generation Science Standards, and consider briefly some of the practical dimensions for teachers who have not yet engaged with historical approaches.