Learning about the ecosystem processes and their interdependence is difficult, as these processes are complex and dynamic. Therefore, it is necessary to choose learning strategies that will help students to fully understand them. For this reason, we explored the benefits of using an aquarium in biology lessons. When analysing the goals of the curriculum for biology in upper secondary school, we found out that many learning objectives can be covered with the use of an aquarium, especially when considering the topics of structure and function of organisms and ecology. We have written instructions for setting up an aquarium that is not too demanding to maintain, but can also represent a model ecosystem. Based on these instructions, we set up an aquarium, with which we tested six laboratory exercises. These exercises are suitable for use in high school biology classes, and also include some didactic recommendations from the general upper secondary school biology curriculum. According to our findings, an aquarium is a useful tool that every school should setup in their biology classrooms.
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