Essay Contest Reveals Misconceptions of High School Students in Genetics Content

National educational organizations have called upon scientists to become involved in K-12 education reform. From sporadic interaction with students to more sustained partnerships with teachers, the engagement of scientists takes many forms. In this case, scientists from the American Society of Human...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics (Austin) 2008-03, Vol.178 (3), p.1157-1168
Main Authors: Mills Shaw, Kenna R, Van Horne, Katie, Zhang, Hubert, Boughman, Joann
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement tests
Cognition & reasoning
Communication
Contests
Educational Measurement
Genes
Genetic counseling
Genetic Diseases, Inborn
Genetic disorders
Genetic engineering
Genetic research
Genetics - education
Humans
Inheritance Patterns - genetics
Life sciences
Mutation
Schools
Science
Science education
Secondary school students
Secondary schools
Student writing
Students
Teaching
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:National educational organizations have called upon scientists to become involved in K-12 education reform. From sporadic interaction with students to more sustained partnerships with teachers, the engagement of scientists takes many forms. In this case, scientists from the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), the Genetics Society of America (GSA), and the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) have partnered to organize an essay contest for high school students as part of the activities surrounding National DNA Day. We describe a systematic analysis of 500 of 2443 total essays submitted in response to this contest over 2 years. Our analysis reveals the nature of student misconceptions in genetics, the possible sources of these misconceptions, and potential ways to galvanize genetics education.
ISSN:0016-6731
1943-2631
1943-2631
DOI:10.1534/genetics.107.084194