Christian Moore-Anderson
@cmooreanderson.bsky.social
● Biology Teacher (11–18) | Head of Biology (IBDP)
● Author of Teaching Meaning, Difference Maker, and Biology Made Real
● Interested in enactive cognitive science in teaching
Blog: rb.gy/dyi5a
● Author of Teaching Meaning, Difference Maker, and Biology Made Real
● Interested in enactive cognitive science in teaching
Blog: rb.gy/dyi5a
Ah, there's the problem. The book is written, but my wife still needs to turn it into a book. My kids don't let us advance quickly. The paperback will be sold on Amazon, and the ebook in most places. We're hoping in a month...
February 13, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Ah, there's the problem. The book is written, but my wife still needs to turn it into a book. My kids don't let us advance quickly. The paperback will be sold on Amazon, and the ebook in most places. We're hoping in a month...
One problem in Difference Maker was trying to cover too much ground at times. And this comes back to the problem I mentioned: it's so unfamiliar that everything has to be explained. In Teaching Meaning, I wanted to cover the core principles well and accessibly.
February 13, 2026 at 12:54 PM
One problem in Difference Maker was trying to cover too much ground at times. And this comes back to the problem I mentioned: it's so unfamiliar that everything has to be explained. In Teaching Meaning, I wanted to cover the core principles well and accessibly.
Difference Maker was tightly focused on biology teaching, whereas Teaching Meaning zooms out. My ideas have a more mature form and new ones have been included in Teaching Meaning. My writing is better also. But there is, of course, overlap between the books.
February 13, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Difference Maker was tightly focused on biology teaching, whereas Teaching Meaning zooms out. My ideas have a more mature form and new ones have been included in Teaching Meaning. My writing is better also. But there is, of course, overlap between the books.
Difference Maker was where I wanted to show this different way of teaching and learning. It is full of examples of lessons, with one being 3000 words long. However, some people love it, some people wanted something easier.
Teaching Meaning will explain the general ideas for teachers of any subject.
Teaching Meaning will explain the general ideas for teachers of any subject.
February 13, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Difference Maker was where I wanted to show this different way of teaching and learning. It is full of examples of lessons, with one being 3000 words long. However, some people love it, some people wanted something easier.
Teaching Meaning will explain the general ideas for teachers of any subject.
Teaching Meaning will explain the general ideas for teachers of any subject.
By the way, I do have a post on teaching photosynthesis, but its focus is on its relationship with respiration.
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...
How I teach the relationship between photosynthesis & respiration in plants (without PowerPoint)
The relationship between photosynthesis and respiration—within an individual plant—isn't easy for students. Often I find, they've been bombarded with the respiration equation to have them memorise it,...
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:48 PM
By the way, I do have a post on teaching photosynthesis, but its focus is on its relationship with respiration.
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...
And yes, my students comment all the time about how my teaching is quite different. They like it. They especially like model building through inference and conversation.
February 13, 2026 at 12:48 PM
And yes, my students comment all the time about how my teaching is quite different. They like it. They especially like model building through inference and conversation.
If biology had less curricular content, then I may have some more time to show exam questions. But, if I actually had more time, I reckon I'd spend more time developing my students ability to infer and explain from models. Rather than just feedback, time to rewrite, for example.
February 13, 2026 at 12:48 PM
If biology had less curricular content, then I may have some more time to show exam questions. But, if I actually had more time, I reckon I'd spend more time developing my students ability to infer and explain from models. Rather than just feedback, time to rewrite, for example.
I teach IGCSE biology and then IB biology. My lessons are dominated by model building, conversation, and inference. Sometimes, I'll show them an exam question. However, most exam technique practice I save for the months before final exams (and end of term tests).
February 13, 2026 at 12:48 PM
I teach IGCSE biology and then IB biology. My lessons are dominated by model building, conversation, and inference. Sometimes, I'll show them an exam question. However, most exam technique practice I save for the months before final exams (and end of term tests).
I hope Teaching Meaning will do some of that work.
February 13, 2026 at 10:27 AM
I hope Teaching Meaning will do some of that work.
My work is never done! It just keeps evolving.
But, the parts, what are they? How to coordinate meanings and a way of doing biology? We'll I've been working heavily on those too. That was "Difference Maker", but I've got more to say in "Teaching Meaning".
But, the parts, what are they? How to coordinate meanings and a way of doing biology? We'll I've been working heavily on those too. That was "Difference Maker", but I've got more to say in "Teaching Meaning".
February 13, 2026 at 9:11 AM
My work is never done! It just keeps evolving.
But, the parts, what are they? How to coordinate meanings and a way of doing biology? We'll I've been working heavily on those too. That was "Difference Maker", but I've got more to say in "Teaching Meaning".
But, the parts, what are they? How to coordinate meanings and a way of doing biology? We'll I've been working heavily on those too. That was "Difference Maker", but I've got more to say in "Teaching Meaning".
This is a special type of content.
It's enacting a way of doing your subject.
It's "metacontent", a special kind of content that can only be coordinated together in conversing.
And which makes any of your lessons dependent on a history of conversations.
It's enacting a way of doing your subject.
It's "metacontent", a special kind of content that can only be coordinated together in conversing.
And which makes any of your lessons dependent on a history of conversations.
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
This is a special type of content.
It's enacting a way of doing your subject.
It's "metacontent", a special kind of content that can only be coordinated together in conversing.
And which makes any of your lessons dependent on a history of conversations.
It's enacting a way of doing your subject.
It's "metacontent", a special kind of content that can only be coordinated together in conversing.
And which makes any of your lessons dependent on a history of conversations.
Yet, even when teaching isolated topics, my students and I are still coordinating a way of approaching biology, a way of doing biology. We're coordinating a sense of "what matters" and "how to talk about it", "how to act with it"...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Yet, even when teaching isolated topics, my students and I are still coordinating a way of approaching biology, a way of doing biology. We're coordinating a sense of "what matters" and "how to talk about it", "how to act with it"...
Of course, there are times I have to teach something quite isolated, with tenuous connections to other topics.
Here, my teaching may present differently. But it would be an exception, and describing my teaching this way would misrepresent what I do...
Here, my teaching may present differently. But it would be an exception, and describing my teaching this way would misrepresent what I do...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Of course, there are times I have to teach something quite isolated, with tenuous connections to other topics.
Here, my teaching may present differently. But it would be an exception, and describing my teaching this way would misrepresent what I do...
Here, my teaching may present differently. But it would be an exception, and describing my teaching this way would misrepresent what I do...
My argument is that if a teacher begins teaching photosynthesis and it is totally new to students, something has failed.
Possibly due to seeing curriculum as a sequence of knowledge acquisition.
Curriculum isn't this. It's a coordination of meanings enacted between teachers and students...
Possibly due to seeing curriculum as a sequence of knowledge acquisition.
Curriculum isn't this. It's a coordination of meanings enacted between teachers and students...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
My argument is that if a teacher begins teaching photosynthesis and it is totally new to students, something has failed.
Possibly due to seeing curriculum as a sequence of knowledge acquisition.
Curriculum isn't this. It's a coordination of meanings enacted between teachers and students...
Possibly due to seeing curriculum as a sequence of knowledge acquisition.
Curriculum isn't this. It's a coordination of meanings enacted between teachers and students...
Why do I find it hard to describe a single isolated lesson?
Because, with an enactive cognitive science perspective, that lesson is utterly inseparable from our history of coordination of meanings.
Photosynthesis isn't something new to my students, it merges with a deeper meaning enacted over time.
Because, with an enactive cognitive science perspective, that lesson is utterly inseparable from our history of coordination of meanings.
Photosynthesis isn't something new to my students, it merges with a deeper meaning enacted over time.
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Why do I find it hard to describe a single isolated lesson?
Because, with an enactive cognitive science perspective, that lesson is utterly inseparable from our history of coordination of meanings.
Photosynthesis isn't something new to my students, it merges with a deeper meaning enacted over time.
Because, with an enactive cognitive science perspective, that lesson is utterly inseparable from our history of coordination of meanings.
Photosynthesis isn't something new to my students, it merges with a deeper meaning enacted over time.
From day one, we begin coordinating a way of approaching biology and any new content.
We learn that some organisms are "makers" of their own organic molecules, whereas others are "takers".
We talk about organisms as adaptive agents, responding to preserve their way of being...
We learn that some organisms are "makers" of their own organic molecules, whereas others are "takers".
We talk about organisms as adaptive agents, responding to preserve their way of being...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
From day one, we begin coordinating a way of approaching biology and any new content.
We learn that some organisms are "makers" of their own organic molecules, whereas others are "takers".
We talk about organisms as adaptive agents, responding to preserve their way of being...
We learn that some organisms are "makers" of their own organic molecules, whereas others are "takers".
We talk about organisms as adaptive agents, responding to preserve their way of being...
For example, my first biology lesson with Year 7 students (11 years old), is on autopoiesis; how organisms literally construct themselves from organic molecules. And how biological life is about preserving this ability to build and maintain a physical body...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
For example, my first biology lesson with Year 7 students (11 years old), is on autopoiesis; how organisms literally construct themselves from organic molecules. And how biological life is about preserving this ability to build and maintain a physical body...
Now, coordinating, here's the key.
Students aren't just "encoding" and "storing" knowledge tokens.
As a class, we're coordinating a way of *doing* biology that includes a way of seeing, talking about, and explaining biology.
This coordination begins in the first lesson...
Students aren't just "encoding" and "storing" knowledge tokens.
As a class, we're coordinating a way of *doing* biology that includes a way of seeing, talking about, and explaining biology.
This coordination begins in the first lesson...
February 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Now, coordinating, here's the key.
Students aren't just "encoding" and "storing" knowledge tokens.
As a class, we're coordinating a way of *doing* biology that includes a way of seeing, talking about, and explaining biology.
This coordination begins in the first lesson...
Students aren't just "encoding" and "storing" knowledge tokens.
As a class, we're coordinating a way of *doing* biology that includes a way of seeing, talking about, and explaining biology.
This coordination begins in the first lesson...
From an EduCognitivist perspective, maybe, when students get to photosynthesis, they simply must learn new concepts and "connect" them to prior knowledge.
From an enactive perspective, we must coordinate a meaning of photosynthesis (and yes, learn the details)...
From an enactive perspective, we must coordinate a meaning of photosynthesis (and yes, learn the details)...
February 13, 2026 at 8:02 AM
From an EduCognitivist perspective, maybe, when students get to photosynthesis, they simply must learn new concepts and "connect" them to prior knowledge.
From an enactive perspective, we must coordinate a meaning of photosynthesis (and yes, learn the details)...
From an enactive perspective, we must coordinate a meaning of photosynthesis (and yes, learn the details)...
I was asked to describe my method of teaching *photosynthesis* from my enactive cognitive science perspective.
Why's that so hard to do? Because it isolates a single topic as if it were possible to isolate its meaning from the history of our lessons together...
Why's that so hard to do? Because it isolates a single topic as if it were possible to isolate its meaning from the history of our lessons together...
February 13, 2026 at 8:02 AM
I was asked to describe my method of teaching *photosynthesis* from my enactive cognitive science perspective.
Why's that so hard to do? Because it isolates a single topic as if it were possible to isolate its meaning from the history of our lessons together...
Why's that so hard to do? Because it isolates a single topic as if it were possible to isolate its meaning from the history of our lessons together...
Thanks Mike!
In the first paper I ever wrote I discussed how isolated components in biology, e.g. organelles, could be made more meaningful as part of a larger mechanism.
I read recently that my favourite enactivist thought the same:
In the first paper I ever wrote I discussed how isolated components in biology, e.g. organelles, could be made more meaningful as part of a larger mechanism.
I read recently that my favourite enactivist thought the same:
February 13, 2026 at 7:30 AM
Thanks Mike!
In the first paper I ever wrote I discussed how isolated components in biology, e.g. organelles, could be made more meaningful as part of a larger mechanism.
I read recently that my favourite enactivist thought the same:
In the first paper I ever wrote I discussed how isolated components in biology, e.g. organelles, could be made more meaningful as part of a larger mechanism.
I read recently that my favourite enactivist thought the same: