Introduction
In recent years, many science education
researchers have focused on students’ conceptual development
and cognitive processes (Kwon& Lawson, 2000). They mainly
accepted that each student had a different cognitive structure because
of their different abilities, backgrounds and attitudes (Piaget, 1969).
Many science education studies deal with alternative conceptions
related to science subjects taught in schools worldwide. The students
learn new information daily and tend to commit this learned information
in the direction of beliefs and ideas they previously developed through
intuition. As a result, students start to restructure
scientific events. Educators now generally agree that students come to
class with established ideas that are different from those usually
accepted by scientists. These different conceptions generated by
students have been called misconceptions (Arnaudin & Mintzes,
1985), children science (Gilbert, Osborn & Fensham, 1982),
naive theories (Mintzes, 1984) or alternative conceptions (Fisher,
1985). Widespread misconceptions in formal education are very resistant
to change (Wandersee, Mintzes & Novak, 1994). Students seem to
have difficulty learning concepts as well as changing previously held
alternative concepts from biology and other science courses (Bahar,
2003; Kinchin, 2000; Treagust, 1988; Bloom, 1990). Several reasons
suggest that students can hold alternative conceptions; misconceptions
could begin during the first school years or even earlier (Bell, 1981;
Pines & West, 1986). Alternative conceptions held by students
were not easily changed throughout their schooling. These
misconceptions adversely affected meaningful learning of new concepts
and the ability to make connections with other concepts in science
courses (Strike & Posner, 1982).
With the goal to help individuals become
science and technology literate, some of the most important aims of
science education are to make sure that students learn and understand
the natural world, experience the excitement and intellectual
prosperity of it and use proper scientific processes and principles
while making personal decisions. Today, biotechnology and genetic
engineering have considerably improved issues such as drug production,
criminal DNA testing, cloning, gene transfer, the human genome project
and nutrition production. The studies made in biotechnology and genetic
engineering fields shed light on a good deal of unknown subjects;
however, at the same time, they are met with reservations by some
members of the scientific community due to possible future outcomes.
Specifically, the ethical discussions about the development of
biotechnology and its area of usage are subjects of many studies (Oka
& Macer, 2000). In their study to identify high school
students’ stance towards biotechnology in Taiwan and England,
Chen and Raffan (1999) pointed out that students’ opinions
concede that genetic intervention can be made on plants, but the genes
of the animals shouldn’t be messed with. In their studies,
Dawson and Schibeci (2003) determined 15-year-old students’
knowledge about modern biotechnology in West Australia, and they
concluded that approximately 1/3 of the students have little or no
information about biotechnology; moreover, they are confused
about the future uses of the biotechnology. Dawson and Schibeci (2003)
have also revealed the stance of the 15-year-old students in West
Australia toward modern biotechnology, and they concluded that more
than 90% of the students concede to biotechnological practices on
plants. The ethical discussions about the development of biotechnology
and its area of usage are subjects to many studies (Oka &
Macer, 2000). Dawson and Soames (2006) have discovered a positive
improvement in students’ knowledge who were taking
biotechnology lessons, however they disapproved of the usage
of humans in biotechnological studies. Ozdemir (2005) revealed that
elementary education students have misconceptions about genetics and
biotechnology. The researcher pointed out that the main concepts of
genetics and biotechnology should be taught more thoroughly,
in an interrelated way and with tangible examples. In their study on
genetic concept comprehension levels of both students and pre-service
in four different populations in Israel, Marbach-Ad (2001) revealed
that both the students and pre-service teachers were in need of genetic
education.
In our society, genetic engineering and
biotechnology information and their application is learned about
through the media rather than in educational institutions.
Students’ views of biotechnology and its application areas
tend to be impacted by various discussions about the subject. In
addition, having a good grasp of the main scientific concepts rather
than specific details is considered to be more valuable. For this
reason, a better understanding of biotechnology and genetic engineering
will allow students to make more correct and conscious decisions
related to application areas of biotechnology. In many countries, the
subjects related to biotechnology and genetic engineering are included
in the high school biology program in Turkey. However, upon scanning
the literature, not many studies were found concerning the knowledge
and stance of the students towards genetic engineering and
biotechnology in Turkey. Determining the biotechnology and genetic
engineering knowledge and stance of pre-service teachers will be
helpful for designing new teaching materials for the subject.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the
alternative conceptions of elementary school pre-service science
teachers on DNA and DNA technologies. The questions we tried to answer
include: What do the students know about DNA and DNA Technologies? What
are the alternative answers of the pre-service science teachers about
DNA and DNA Technologies?
Copyright
(C)
2008
HKIEd APFSLT.
Volume
9,
Issue
1,
Article 8 (June, 2008).
All Rights Reserved.
