Genetics at school level: addressing the difficulties

Chu, Yu-Chien; Norman, Reid L.

doi:10.1080/02635143.2012.732059

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…All four teachers used mostly declarative content knowledge to teach the definitions and explain the genetics concepts of chromosomes, genes and alleles. These concepts are known to be problematic and students find them hard to grasp and distinguish (Chu & Reid, 2012). Predominant use of declarative knowledge was supposedly influenced by the biology syllabus, which required students to know only definitions of these concepts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching of Genetics in Swaziland Science Classrooms

Mthethwa-Kunene

Onwu

Villiers

2015

International Journal of Science Education

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This study explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its development of four experienced biology teachers in the context of teaching school genetics. Pedagogical content knowledge was defined in terms of teacher content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of students" preconceptions and learning difficulties. Data sources of teacher knowledge base included teacher constructed concept maps, pre-and post-lesson teacher interviews, videorecorded genetics lessons, post-lesson teacher questionnaire and document analysis of teacher"s reflective journals and students" work samples. The results showed that the teachers" individual PCK profiles consisted predominantly of declarative and procedural content knowledge in teaching basic genetics concepts. Conditional knowledge, which is a type of meta-knowledge for blending together declarative and procedural knowledge, was also demonstrated by some teachers. Further, the teachers used topic-specific instructional strategies such as context based teaching, illustrations, peer teaching, and analogies in diverse forms but failed to use physical models and individual or group student experimental activities to assist students" internalization of the concepts. The finding that all four teachers lacked knowledge of students" genetics-related preconceptions was equally significant. Formal university education, school context, journal reflection and professional development programmes were considered as contributing to the teachers" continuing PCK development. Implications of the findings for biology teacher education are briefly discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, the country"s chief examiners" biology performance reports highlight the fact that school genetics is one area in which candidates have consistently performed abysmally over the years (ECOS, 2008(ECOS, , 2009(ECOS, , 2012. Genetics is a topic that research has shown students tend to struggle with worldwide (Chu & Reid, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching of Genetics in Swaziland Science Classrooms

Mthethwa-Kunene

Onwu

Villiers

2015

International Journal of Science Education

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“…I motsats till den tidigare forskningen (t.ex. Chu & Reid, 2012;Kibuka-Sebitosi, 2007;Lewis & Kattmann, 2004;Tsui & Treagust, 2010) ansåg ingen av de undersökta att genetik är mycket svårt, inte ens de 14 som fått två eller färre poäng i testet. Däremot tyckte 28 % att genetik är mycket lätt eller lätt, bland dem även de två studerande som endast fått en poäng i testet.…”

Section: Svårighetsgraden I Genetik Enligt Gymnasiestuderandeunclassified

“…I motsats till tidigare forskningsresultat (t.ex. Chattopadhyay, 2005;Chu & Reid, 2012;Gericke & Hagberg, 2007;Kibuka-Sebitosi, 2007;Lewis & Kattmann, 2004;Rotbain, Marbach-Ad & Stavy, 2006;Tsui & Treagust, 2010) ansåg de 46 gymnasiestuderandena att genetik inte är svårt, trots att endast fyra av dem kunde svara rätt på samtliga frågor.…”

Section: Slutdiskussionunclassified

“…Exempel på elevers missuppfattningar om genetiska begrepp och processer enligt tidigare forskning.Duncan m.fl., 2011; Saka m.fl., 2006; Shaw m.fl., 2008 En annan orsak till varför genetik upplevs som ett svårt ämnesområde kan bero på hur ämnet undervisas i skolan. EnligtElmesky (2013) ochFlodin (2009) beskrivs det inte tydligt i läroplanerna eller andra styrdokument, vad exakt, vilka helheter och i vilken För att kunna väcka intresse och handleda eleverna i forskningsprocessen är det viktigt att läraren håller sig väl uppdaterad i ämnet.En annan aspekt som påpekas avChu & Reid (2012) är elevers kapacitet i form av arbetsminne. Arbetsminnet är begränsat och inverkar på hur mycket eleverna kan ta till sig Översikt av gymnasiestuderandes antal poäng i testet i förhållande till avlagd kurs 2.Av alla frågor (tabell 4) besvarades frågan om förhållandet mellan en gen och en egenskap bäst (65 % hade rätt), följt av påståenden om kromosomen (57 %) och genen (57 %).…”

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Gymnasiets genetik – Svårt eller bara ett didaktiskt problem?

Palmberg

Björk

Kronlund

et al. 2015

LUMAT

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According to previous research, pupils and students regard genetics as a very difficult subject. They find it abstract, and the use of many concepts at several different levels in the same textbook makes it difficult for them to understand. Teaching methods and ways of working have been criticised as part of the problem. The aim of this study is to summarise previous research on pupils' knowledge of genetics and on teaching methods in genetics, to analyse curricula and textbooks in school genetics, and to test a group of Finland-Swedish secondary-school students' understanding of the basic concepts and processes in genetics, and their opinion about genetics. The test of concepts was carried out as a multiple-choice test, completed by an open question concerning the best way(s) to learn genetics as judged by the students. The results indicated that the majority of students did not regard either genetics or the textbook as difficult; yet they lacked their own unquestionable knowledge about basic concepts and processes. There was no correlation between the test results and the way(s) the students experienced genetics, neither between the test results and the way(s) in which the students felt that they learned genetics best. More than half of the students emphasised the role of the teacher, i.e. lecturing, as the best way to learn genetics. The need and alternative ways to develop the teaching of genetics are discussed.Abstrakt Enligt tidigare forskning uppfattas genetiken som ett speciellt svårt ämne av elever och studerande. Ämnet upplevs som abstrakt och användningen av ett stort antal begrepp på flera olika nivåer i en och samma lärobok försvårar förståelsen ytterligare. Undervisningsmetoderna och arbetssätten har kritiserats som en del av problemet. Syftet med detta arbete är att sammanfatta tidigare forskning om elevers kunskaper i genetik och om undervisningsmetoder i genetik, analysera läroplaner och skolböcker samt testa en grupp finlandssvenska gymnasiestuderandes begreppskunskap i och åsikt om genetik. Begreppstestet utfördes som flervalsfrågor och kompletterades med en öppen fråga om de bästa sätten att lära sig genetik. Resultaten visar att majoriteten av gymnasiestuderande inte upplever ämnet genetik eller läroboken i genetik som svåra, men att de trots det saknar säker kunskap om grundläggande begrepp och processer inom ämnet.Det fanns inget samband mellan testresultat och huruvida de studerande upplever genetiken som lätt eller medelsvårt, inte heller mellan testresultat och sätten att lära sig genetik. Över hälften av de studerande betonade lärarens roll och därmed framställande undervisning som det bästa sättet att lära sig genetik. Behov och möjligheter att utveckla genetikundervisningen diskuteras.

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Students’ Conceptual Sense-making of Animations and Static Visualizations of Protein Synthesis: a Sociocultural Hypothesis Explaining why Animations May Be Beneficial for Student Learning

Strømme

Mork

2020

Res Sci Educ

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This paper analyses students' conceptual sense-making of two representations of protein synthesis: animations and static visualizations. Even though several studies have focused on the effect of animations versus static visualizations or support aspects that enable students to effectively benefit from animations, existing research has not yet analysed the activity of students' shared conceptual sense-making of these two modes of representation. Grounded in sociocultural perspectives, this study addresses this gap by investigating two classes of 10th graders working in the computer-supported Viten learning environment. One class worked on a unit containing animations, and the other on a unit where animations were replaced by static visualizations. Pre-and post-tests were administered to measure possible differences between the classes in their knowledge acquisition. Aiming to explain the quantitative findings, we performed an interaction analysis to scrutinize the interaction trajectory of two dyads, one from each condition, while working on an animation and static visualization of protein synthesis both in class and in conceptual interviews. Our pre-and post-test findings demonstrate that students in the animated condition outperformed students in the static condition. The analysis of a dyad's interaction indicates that students' conceptual understanding develops at the juncture of segmentation of animation and text and students' collaborative conceptual sense-making. We argue that interacting with animations and static visualizations are two different interactional

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Genetics at school level: addressing the difficulties

Cited by 16 publications

References 76 publications

Exploring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching of Genetics in Swaziland Science Classrooms

Exploring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching of Genetics in Swaziland Science Classrooms

Gymnasiets genetik – Svårt eller bara ett didaktiskt problem?

Students’ Conceptual Sense-making of Animations and Static Visualizations of Protein Synthesis: a Sociocultural Hypothesis Explaining why Animations May Be Beneficial for Student Learning

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