Teaching Osmosis to Biology Students

Abstract

Osmosis is a fundamental concept of great importance to understanding natural biological, physical, and chemical processes. We provide an instructional guide to assist instructors of advanced high school biology and college biology students in defining questions that are central to deriving a highly developed understanding of osmosis. We present teaching activities that focus on advancing multiple hypotheses about the cause of osmosis, presenting a tentative explanation and model of osmosis, and drawing scientifically accepted conclusions about osmotic processes.