Teachers’ approaches to genetics teaching mirror their choice of content and avoidance of sensitive issues

Abstract

The skills required to understand genetic phenomena and transfer knowledge to real world situations are an important part of 21st century scientific literacy. While socio-scientific issues (SSI) are increasingly emphasised in science curricula, teachers have low interest in adopting SSI in teaching. Little is known about how teachers choose content for their teaching, although this process translates curricula to teaching practice. We explored how teachers choose content and contexts for biology courses on cells, heredity, and biotechnology by interviewing ten Finnish upper-secondary school teachers. We studied how the teachers described teaching on genetically modified organisms, hereditary disorders, and human traits. Teachers’ perceptions on genetics teaching were classified to Developmental, Structural and Hereditary approaches. The approaches were connected not only to the teachers’ perceptions of the more important content, but also teacher inclinations towards teaching genetics in the human context and perceptions of students’ interest in different topics. Teachers’ justified their choices by national, local school, and teacher’s personal-level factors. While teachers mentioned that SSI are important, they were never mentioned among the important contexts. Nevertheless, some teachers embraced teaching genetics in the human context while others avoided them. Teachers justified their avoidance for personal and pedagogical factors, such as their competence in dealing with these contexts. Experience played a part in the approach that teachers had, and contrary to the results of previous research, the less experienced teachers were more open to discussing human genetics. We conclude that curriculum development is important to encourage teachers to adopt more SSI-oriented teaching.Disclosure statementTuomas Aivelo has participated in writing biology textbooks for upper-secondary school biology for eOppi Oy. None of the teachers involved in this study used biology textbooks from eOppi Oy.

Embracing socioscientific issues-based teaching and decision-making in teacher professional development

“…This is significantly different from traditional science classes where scientific knowledge is the focus, and it is obviously challenging for science teachers to consider these multiple subject areas. This is why previous studies reported that teachers lacked confidence in handling controversial issues (Bryce & Gray, 2004;Hofstein et al, 2011) or lacked knowledge and teaching strategies (Aivelo & Uitto, 2019;Borgerding & Dagistan, 2018;Carson & Dawson, 2016;Ozturk & Bozkurt Altan, 2019). Even though teachers encountered the aforementioned difficulties, similar results from studies conducted with preservice teachers were also reported (see Genel & Topcu, 2016;Kara, 2012).…”

“…While PTs use ethics and morals in their own decisions, this is not reflecting in their teaching of SSI, possibly for the same reasons stated abovecurricular pressure, lack of time, and the pressure of preparing for state exams. Another reason might be that PTs are inexperienced teachers, who, according to the available research, are more open to discussion and more eager to include societal aspects in their classrooms (Aivelo & Uitto, 2019). As the PTs in our study were inexperienced teachers, this might explain their reliance on science and ethics/morality to support their decisions.…”

“…Studies have revealed that teachers and pre-service teachers are positive about engaging with SSI in the classroom (Byford et al, 2009;Sadler et al, 2006;Kara, 2012, Seow & Ho, 2016, but SSI-based teaching is still perceived to be challenging (Rundgren & Chang Rundgren, 2018). It was found that science teachers tend to miss opportunities to introduce SSI in their classes due to lack of knowledge, time, and appropriate teaching strategies (Aivelo & Uitto, 2019;Borgerding & Dagistan, 2018;Carson & Dawson, 2016;Genel & Topcu, 2016;Kara, 2012;Ozturk & Bozkurt Altan, 2019). Lack of confidence in dealing with SSI is also a barrier (Bryce & Gray, 2004;Hofstein et al, 2011).…”

Enhancing creativity in genetics using three teaching strategies-based TPACK model

“…The application of TPACK model in learning can assist educators in conveying learning concepts to students, motivate students to learn, provide opportunities for students to be more active in experimenting according to concepts, evaluate, provide feedback on the results of student assignments, and assist students in communicating various solutions (Stoilescu, 2015). Specific strategies on three aspects of knowledge, namely technology, pedagogy, and content are also needed by educators in learning genetics (Aivelo & Uitto, 2018). TPACK model is needed by educators to integrate technology in learning effectively (Koehler et al, 2013;Mishra & Koehler, 2008).…”

Investigating Turkish Pre-service Science Teachers’ Moral Reasoning in Genetics related Socioscientific Issues

“…However, the literature reports many teachers perceived SSI-based teaching as challenging (Sadler, Amirshokoohi, Kazempour, & Allspaw, 2006;Rundgren & Chang Rundgren, 2018). Many teachers were reported to feel uncomfortable introducing ethics and values along with scientific content , to have lack of knowledge (Aivelo & Uitto, 2019), and lack of confidence for dealing with SSI (Bryce & Gray, 2004).…”