This document discusses improving genetics curriculum in high school. It argues that the current curriculum focuses too heavily on Mendelian inheritance and dominance/recessiveness without explaining the real relationships. It suggests students may have ideas of genetic determinism and do not understand how dominance works. The author aims to identify Finnish students' genetic literacy and misconceptions by analyzing exam answers and textbooks to design new curriculum requirements that better teach key genetic concepts.

1. Giving the boot to Mendel
Improving genetics curriculum in high school
Tuomas Aivelo
University of Helsinki
26.11.2012

2. Genetic literacy

What are the central contents?

What should students know?

Contemporary conception of scientific literacy
– Abilities to be active citizen
– Understanding of culture
– Appreciation of science

This includes eg.:
– Nature of science
– Sosioscientific issues

3. Current use of genomics

Rise of personal genomics – eg. 23AndMe

Whole-genome sequencing

Typical science news:

4. Current canon of genetics teaching

Heavily towards
Mendelian inheritance

Central themes
– Dominance
– Monohybrid crosses
– Complete
penetrance

The renewal process
for curriculum is just
starting!

5. Suggested problems

Genetical determinism

”Transmission genetics”

No idea of real relationship between
dominance/recessiveness

No appreciation for different uses of 'genes'

Is it useful?

6. Gene – what it is?

Gene means different things in different fields
of biology!

Gene-P:
– Gene as an information unit - “gene for”

Gene-D:
– Gene as a developmental unit - “gene as”

7. Research questions

Do high school students have ideas of genetical
determinism?

Do high school students understand how
dominance and recessiveness actuall happen?

What kind of picture commonly used textbooks
give on these two issues?

8. My methods

National Biology Competition

>1000 answers expected

multiple-choice questions

Analysis of biology textbooks

Two most common books used in 90% of classes

9. Text book analysis

Identifying passages which talk
about genes, inheritance and
genotype-to-phenotype
relation

What kind of understanding of
'gene'?

What kind of stance on
– Dominance
– Determinism

10. Identifying genetic literacy

Underlying mission is to design genetic literacy
requirements needed for Finnish high school
students:
– First step is to identify how well current
curriculum works and how learning is lacking
and which potential misconceptions are being
taught

Workshop in March in Utrecht, Netherlands for
global input and synthesis