Investigation of Pre-service Primary School Teachers' Decision Processes Related to Genetic-based Socioscientific Discussions in Terms of Human Rights

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the decision processes of preservice primary school teachers (PPSTs) related to genetic-based socioscientific discussions in terms of human rights. In this context, in the study, it was focused on the birth of gifted people with genetic technology, the use of genetic tests in the process of getting health insurance, and gender selection by the PGD method. The study was carried out as a descriptive study in the screening model with 203 PPSTs studying at the fourth grade in three faculties of education in the Southeastern Anatolia region in Turkey. In the study, the data were collected with the Evaluation Form for Decision Processes related to Genetic-based Socioscientific Discussions. Research data were analyzed by content analysis. The results of the study indicated that PPSTs used different decision processes in genetic-based socioscientific discussions and based these decision processes on different justifications. Furthermore, they also revealed that PPSTs largely made decisions that were unrelated to human rights in genetic-based socioscientific discussions. However, they could usually make accurate inferences when they made human rights-based decisions. This study is important in terms of providing information on how PPSTs' decision processes related to genetic-based socioscientific discussions are shaped and on how human rights are employed in this process.