It Is Time for a New Direction in Biotechnology Education Research

Abstract

This manuscript presents a scoping review of Biotechnology Education Research (BTER) over the last 20 years. BTER during this period primarily focused on attitudes and knowledge, typically using research design methods suitable for addressing questions about frequencies, central tendencies, correlations, and so on. However, to guide the development of educational practices that will increase and sustain students' motivation and interest in science in general and biotechnology in particular, BTER will need to adopt research design methods that support the inference of causal relationships from observations. Research will need to focus on students' interest and motivation, and its relationship with effective teaching and learning of biotechnology in the context of socio-scientific issues (SSIs). Such a shift will increase interest and motivation in teaching and learning biotechnology and will also help establish and maintain students' interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) because biotechnology is an important STEM subject. This in turn may encourage students to choose educational and professional careers in science, helping to meet society's current and future needs.

Secondary School Biology Students’ Attitudes towards Modern Biotechnology Characterised using Structural Equation Modeling

“…In the context of science education research or more specifically biotechnology education research (BTER), the construct of attitude has not been problematised with the same rigour as in other research contexts, such as the behavioural or psychological sciences. Previous research in science education has highlighted that the construct has often simply been referred to as attitude (Potvin & Hasni, 2014b), and the same trend is found in BTER (Nordqvist & Aronsson, 2019). In the science education context, where the construct has been problematised, the models used are the unitary model and the tripartite model.…”

“…In BTER studies over the last two decades, similarities in topics investigated, methods used, and analyses made have been evident. Moreover, studies on attitudes towards modern biotechnology among students outnumber studies on all other concepts, with studies on biotechnology content knowledge as the runner-up (Nordqvist & Aronsson, 2019). Most of these studies have been descriptive in nature, with analysis of frequencies, correlations, rankings, and so on, while only a few have investigated more complex patterns.…”

“…Prospects and risks with products and applications in modern biotechnology do affect students' attitudes. Hence, science education researchers have, over the last decades, investigated aspects of students' attitudes towards biotechnology with various research designs and methods (Nordqvist & Aronsson, 2019).…”

Creating a Sustainable Partnership Between a Science Center, University, and Local School Districts: A Retrospective on Over 20 Years of Successful Programming and Partnership

“…Modules are loaned to teachers with searchers, and school teachers to ensure that each one is up-to-date, elicits the interest of the students, and provides the students with an understanding of concepts covered in the science standards at their grade level (see Table 1 for Next Generation Science Standard and AP Biology Big Idea alignment; https://www.nextgenscience.org/). Further, GENEius has couched its biotechnology education in the context of socio-scientific issues such as genetic testing and gene editing, thus making GENEius more engaging and motivating for students (Chung et al, 2016;Nordqvist and Aronsson, 2019). Further, GENEius attempts to ensure that the topics covered are especially engaging to the students who are from minority populations that are underrepresented in STEM careers.…”

Music notes to amino acid sequence: A STEAM approach to study protein structure

“…Several publications emphasize the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) as education system in biological sciences . This system includes several approaches such as project‐based learning, mathematical modeling, and computational thinking.…”