Teaching unit "composition and characteristics of blood" within the center of excellence for biology

Sa？etak Practical work and inquiry based learning play a key role in the modern education paradigm. Unlike the traditional, teacher centred learning these methods allow students to define problems, make their own hypothesis and perform activities that will lead to problem solving. They lead to development of observation skills, problem identification, causative consequences, creativity and critical thinking. Due to the requirements of the modern day living these competences are necessary for student's future education as well as joining the labour market. This paper shows an example of inquiry based learning with gifted students taking place in the Centre of excellence for biology of the Vara？din county. For this purpose, a series of practical work, inquiry based learning examples and one field work involving a teaching unit called ？Blood composition and characteristics“ were used. The hypothesis that all of the teaching outcomes regarding this part of the biology curriculum can be achieved using practical work and inquiry based learning was tested and proved using post activity evaluation. This supports the researches so far, because it identifies inquiry based learning as better alternative to the, so far more used, traditional teaching methods. To conclude, practical work and inquiry based learning should be used far more in biology teaching than they have been so far