Effective analogies can support science teaching at university but require systematic planning, bridges to student prior knowledge, and active student interaction to find the analogy’s strengths and limitations. This analysis of graduate teaching assistants’ analogies in a professional development module showed the utility of a structured guide to analogy design.

In this perspective article we start from the theories of constructivism and conceptual change within the field of education to develop and present hypotheses about how understandings of biodiversity and diversity more generally are formed. We argue that extrinsic and circumstantial elements from everyday experiences are relevant in shaping understandings of biodiversity.We discuss how children’s games and food-related experiences may influence how children form conceptions of biodiversity. We focus on ‘misconceptions,’ areas where conceptions differ from established ideas in ecology. These include: underestimating the importance of diversity for “complementarity” and over-simplifications of how nature works. Firstly, we examine a type of children’s game that often concerns biodiversity and consists of a puzzle where the forming of categories is encouraged. Secondly, we discuss people’s relation to nature through food in their diets. We believe that targeted intervention is needed to move towards an inclusive and multi-faceted representation of biodiversity, one that emphasises fundamental properties that make a whole and interacting parts. We argue that experiences of games and food can be pivotal in developing a deeper understanding of these fundamental properties of biodiversity. These would be important experiences to consider when attempting transformative change of relationships between people and nature.

Games as a didactic tool (e. g., puzzles) are gaining recognition in environmental education to promote skill development, but also to develop a specific understanding of the natural world. However, a children’s puzzle containing representations of nature may unwillingly lead to “misconceptions” of biodiversity themes and processes, and an over-simplification of the relationship between people and nature. To solve this problem, positive connotations of biodiversity may prompt a conceptual change to a more nuanced, multifaceted conception of biodiversity.

No abstract