On aims and methods of teaching ethology

This paper is a claim for the potential benefits of teaching ethology to achieve educational benchmarks such as scientific and evolutionary literacy. It might be of interest for ethologists to merge their knowledge with the insights of science education. Ethology may potentially contribute to a broad biological literacy, which has potentials for efficient training of biological skills (doing biology), understanding the nature of science (learning about biology), as well as learning biological content (learning biology). In fact, human and animal behaviour may be regarded as an opportunity for teaching and training evolutionary thinking in biology education. However, behaviour and evolution are still viewed as a complex matter by teachers at secondary schools. For example, ‘Tinbergen’s four whys’ are a seminal and seemingly basic content, yet a complex teaching subject. We aim at revealing the conceptual and methodological potentials of teaching ethology in the frame of biology education, pinpointing some common misunderstandings of teachers and students, potential pitfalls, as well as historical misunderstandings and ideological influences in the early days of ethology. Educators are encouraged to communicate the history and nature of science at school, and to emphasize ethological contents. To do so, teachers need to be well informed, and scientists are invited to think about how to communicate the core concepts of ethology.