Rehumanising biology education through embodiment, emotion, and meaning: a commentary

Contemporary biology education remains strongly shaped by reductionist traditions that privilege mechanistic explanation while paying insufficient attention to the experiential, emotional, ethical, and cultural dimensions through which students make sense of living systems. This imbalance can create what may be described here as epistemic distancing: learners grasp biological mechanisms yet find it difficult to relate them to personal questions of identity, responsibility, or meaning. Drawing on research in embodied cognition, affective neuroscience, and intercultural perspectives, this commentary advances a case for a more human-centred orientation in biology education. Rather than reiterating general critiques of reductionism, it develops a focused argument that situates mechanistic explanation within broader experiential contexts. The article synthesises strands that are rarely discussed together in JBE – embodiment, affect, and cultural meaning-making – offering a fresh integrative perspective. It also outlines practical ways for teachers to incorporate embodied activities, emotional engagement, ethical dialogue, and culturally responsive meaning-making into existing curricula without requiring structural reform. To support this perspective, the commentary introduces a heuristic conceptual map – the Holistic Pedagogy of Meaning in Biology Education (HPM-BE) – that highlights the relationships between biological, experiential – affective, and ethical – existential dimensions in biology learning.