The Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences
Head of the Department: Vasyl Vasylovych Hrubinko, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor
Address: 2 Maksym Kryvonis St., office 115, Ternopil, 46027
Tel: (0352) 333001
History of the Department
The department was established in 1971 as the Department of Human and Animal Anatomy and Physiology. First Head of the Department was Shust I.V., Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor. In 1996, the Department was reorganized into the Department of General Biology, and in 2003, after being merged with the Department of Methods of Teaching Biology, it became the Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences. Since 1997, Hrubinko V.V., Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor has been the Head of the Department.
Department Staff
Currently the Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences employs 2 Doctors of Biological Sciences, Professors Hrubinko V.V. and Drobyk N.M.; 1 Doctor of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Bodnar O.I.; 1 Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Stepaniuk A.V.; 4 PhDs in Biological Sciences, Associate Professors Herts A.I., Humeniuk H.B., Voloshyn O.S., Chen I.B.; and 3 PhDs in Pedagogical Sciences Barna L.S., Zhyrska H.Ya., Mishchuk N.Y.
The Department provides the following disciplines:
Biological unit: Human Anatomy, Biotechnology, Age-related Physiology and School Hygiene, Histology with Basics of Embryology, Cytology, Human and Animal Physiology, other anatomical and morphological optional courses.
Ecological unit: Ecology, Ecotoxicology, Environmental Monitoring, Population Biology, Ecosystemology and Biospherology, Radiobiology and Radioecology, Environmental Problems.
Methodical unit: The History of Biology, Teaching Methods in Biology, Ecological and Naturalistic Activities of Schoolchildren, General and Pedagogical Valeology, Health-saving Pedagogical Technologies, Information Technology Fundamentals of Natural Sciences Teacher Training.
In addition, the Department provides postgraduate education for Master’s and Doctoral degrees. A number of leading scholars and lecturers teach the following disciplines: Achievements, Problems and Prospects of Biology, Environmental Physiology and Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics, Modeling of Biological Systems, Population Biology, Structural-Functional Organization and Evolution of Living Systems and the like.
The staff of the Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences is constantly working on improving the educational process.
Thus, over the past 5 years, lecturers of the Department have published 5 monographs, 18 manuals and methodical recommendations, more than 120 articles in scientific publications, more than 20 of which are related to the publications cited in Scopus and WoS, other publications are listed by the Ministry of Science of Ukraine, as well as more than 200 conference abstracts, including about 80 published abroad.
The Department scholars are working on the development of important research problems:
- The Study of Molecular-metabolic Mechanisms of Organisms’ Adaptation to the Extreme Environmental Factors (supervisor: Hrubinko V.V., Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor);
- The Development of Biotechnological Methods for the Cultivation of Rare and Valuable Medicinal Plant Species (supervisor: Drobyk N.M., Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor);
- Methodical and Organizational Support for Training a Natural Sciences Teacher of the New Ukrainian School (supervisor: Stepaniuk A.V., Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor).
The Department is also training doctors and candidates of sciences. Over the past decade, the lecturers of the Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences have defended 5 dissertations for doctoral degree and more than 15 PhD dissertations.
At the Department, there is an electron microscope laboratory, a laboratory of ecotoxicology and biomonitoring, a laboratory of ecology and biotechnology, Methods of teaching Biology laboratory, as well as a greenhouse, where researches are financed by the state budget of Ukraine.
The Department of General Biology and Methods of Teaching Natural Sciences cooperates with a number of scientific institutions of Ukraine, including Institute of hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering of the NAS of Ukraine, M.M. Hryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine, and other higher education institutions in Ukraine and abroad.
More than 20 scientific and scientific-methodical conferences were held on the basis of the Department, including the annual conference Ternopil BioScience.
