High School Students’ Understanding of Genetic Concepts and Their Difficulties in Learning Genetics

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The present study aims to look into what level of understanding high school students have about basic concepts of genetics and what difficulties they have in their learning genetics. The instruments used were an open-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. As a result of examining students’ basic conceptions about genetics, we found that a large majority of the students had misconceptions in all the sections, namely, the concepts of gene, DNA and chromosome, the genetic characteristics of somatic and germ cells, the transfer of gene information, and the determination of sex. Speaking of students’ difficulties with genetics, some of their opinions in regard to textbooks were shortage of basic concepts explanation and the related exercise queries, shortage of mathematics-related explanation, and shortage of diverse activities of exploration, while some of their opinions in regard to teachers’ instruction method were no sufficient provision of diverse exercise queries and visual aids in class, more need of learning time in class, and more need of real life-related explanation in class.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

본 연구의 목적은 고등학생들의 유전 기본 개념 이해 정도와 유전학습에서 겪는 어려움을 알아보는데 있다. 조사방법으로는 개방적 질문법과 반구조적 면담법을 활용하였다. 유전에 관한 기본 개념 검사 결과, 유전자와 DNA, 염색체에 대한 개념, 체세포와 생식세포의 유전적 특성, 유전정보의 전달, 성 결정 검사항목 모두에서 대다수 학생들이 오개념을 가지고 있었다. 유전학습에서 겪는 어려움 중에서 교과서와 관련해서는 기본 개념 설명과 그와 관련된 연습문제가 부족한 점, 수학적 관련 설명이 부족한 점, 다양한 탐구활동이 부족한 점 등을 들었으며, 교사의 수업 방법에 의해 겪는 어려움으로는 다양한 연습문제와 시각적 자료 제시가 부족하다는 점과, 더 많은 학습시간과 실생활 관련 설명이 필요하다는 의견을 제시하였다.

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