[The teaching of biology in the Germany empire (1870-1918)]

The multiple modifications of biology instruction at primary and secondary schools during the times of the empire (1870-1918) can already be seen from the changing titles of the textbooks fort his subject: among others natural history, natural science, biology. The last-named term marks the turning point, which leads from the monographic description of individual plant and animal species as well as their classification to the viewing of the living organisms' adaptation to their habitats. This central re-orientation, which gained acceptance around 1900, marked the beginning of modern biology instruction uncovering the processes of life, however, still ignoring the theory of evolution to a great extent--out of consideration for the religious communities. General socio cultural tendencies of change and special pedagogical as well as educational and didactic reforms, not least new specialist findings, too, prepared the ground for the alteration that pointed to the future.