Abstract:

Although for more than fifty years basic education is the right and requirement of all citizens worldwide, many developing countries, including the Republic of Serbia, are faced with the problem of a high percentage of citizens without the completed basic education. In order to overcome this problem, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia introduced the model of functional basic education of adults (FBEA) into the regular system of Serbian basic education in 2013. According to the FBEA curriculum, Biology is taught in the second and third cycles that are equivalent to the Biology syllabi from the fifth to the eighth grade of basic education. The objective of Biology teaching within FBEA is to enable the adult to apply the acquired knowledge related to life and living things in every-day situations, to detect natural phenomena and processes by solving problems, to create healthy habits that improve their lifestyle and to act responsibly in the area of environmental protection. In the process of acquiring basic functional biology knowledge, the adult is expected to: understand the importance of nature, build responsibility towards nature and understand the role and position of man in nature. In achieving the FBEA objectives, biological topics should be appealing and stimulating to adults and adequate to their needs and capabilities. A suitable approach for the FBEA Biology syllabus is the problem-based approach to biology teaching and learning. The problem-based approach is not centered on the contents but rather on the development of skills and abilities of students for solving every-day problems, which is one of the priorities of FBEA. With the aim of enhancing Biology learning and accomplishing the objectives and the purpose of FBEA, the paper presents the theoretical foundation of adult education in Serbia, as well as the theoretical and practical aspects of problem-based approach in learning of biological topics within FBEA. The presented lesson scenario is aimed at strengthening teaching competencies for applying interactive models of teaching and positioning the problem-based approach properly within FBEA.

Keywords:

Adult education, biology learning, problem-based approach, lesson scenario.