We discuss how reflections on the philosophy of microbiology may contribute to set up the foundations of a relational zone for the biological concept of life and how it would improve student learning if used inclassroom. Starting from the definition of life as flexible adaptation, we argue that a synthetic treatment of biology teaching should replace the current analytical approach. For that purpose, we lay out the fundamentals of the relational zone for a concept of life and discuss how the consequences arising from the definition of such fundamentals may contribute to the practice of biology teaching. At the same time, we hope that our contribution will strengthen the research program on conceptual profiles, for this shall bring positive consequences to the comprehension of the ontological and epistemological aspects of the profile zones of a scientific concept.
Concept of life; conceptual profile; biology teaching; philosophy of biology.