The fundamental objective of this research was to investigate the usefulness and appropriateness of computer simulation to improve the acquisition of necessary skills used in genetic analysis. Interactive computer simulations were developed and tested for their effectiveness in achieving the desired goal. These simulations were tested for six months before full implementation. The final testing took place over a nine-month period and involved a total of sixty-five beginning genetics students from five different classes. The students in the classes were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups.A pre/posttest, based upon behavioral objectives specifically written for the simulations, was administered. A two-way analysis of variance was used with the independent factors of treatment and sex. The dependent variable was the posttest. A second two-way analysisof variance was used with the same independent factors, but the dependent variable was the final numerical course score.The analysis showed no significant differences between the groups tested. However, a secondary analysis of the groups involved in the Summer of 1980 showed that the mean posttest score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Note .that the Summer class was taught in five weeks, whereas the other classes were taught over an eleven-week period.Tie results of this study indicate that (1) simulations were as effective as, but not significantly more effective than, the "live" laboratory experiments in improving student skills in genetic analysis, and (2) simulations can be used very effectively as a backup system in case "live" experiments cannot be performed. Finally, this study suggests that further research should be conducted on the effectiveness of computer simulations with students who are taking courses that axe compressed into short time spans.

Copies of author's previously published works inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 236-268. / viii, 268, [77] p. : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Depts. of Education and Genetics, 1997

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of specifically constructed case studies and a student Decision-Making Model facilitated learning genetic concepts of high school biology students. The study also sought to determine if there were a relationship between: (a) teachers' knowledge of genetics (b) student attitude towards the use of the case studies and student Decision-Making Model and student genetic concept attainment.The population of this study consisted of 54 high school biology teachers and 2,330 high school biology students. The teachers selected for this study attended one of eight Project "Genethics" workshops conducted in the summer of 1993, and funded by either the National Science Foundation, Greenwall Foundation, or Chicago Public Schools. These two week workshops were conducted by mentor teachers trained by the staff of Human Genetics and Bioethics Educational Laboratory (HGABEL).The data gathered through HGABEL's (a) teacher post-test, (b) student pre/post-tests, and researcher designed teacher portfolios (including a student survey) were analyzed using Pearson productmoment correlation coefficient (r and an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with an a = .05. There was found no significant difference between the control group (those classrooms who did not use the case studies and student Decision-Making Model) and the experimental group (those classrooms who did use the case studies and student Decision-Making) on the genetic concept attainment as measured by the HGABEL student post-test.The use of case studies and the student Decision-Making Model allowed students who used them to perform essentially the same on the student post-test as the those students who did not use them even though both groups spent identical instructional time teaching genetics (control 1,568.5 minutes, experimental 1578.5 minutes). The students in the experimental group were also given the benefit of practicing and possibly gaining skills in bioethical decision-making without the loss of concept learning.. / Department of Biology

A quasi-experimental study was implemented to investigate student achievement, time-on-task, and attitude toward microcomputer instruction in relation to the Meyers-Briggs psychological subgroup types of IN, EN, IS, and ES as they interact simultaneously. A pretest-posttest nonrandomized control-group design study comprised of 52 control group subjects and 39 experimental group subjects was carried out during four separate quarters of instruction in a college introductory genetics course during a unit on Mendelian genetics. The control group was instructed with a conventional lecture, discussion, and laboratory method that was based on identified conceptual blocks that are guided by clearly defined learning objectives. The experimental group was taught using the same conceptual blocks and learning objectives, but this group's instruction emphasized the supplementary use of microcomputers to generate genetic cross data with a software program called CATLAB in place of actual fruit fly crosses. Additionally, the experimental group used a microcomputer tutorial programmed by the investigator from a Mendelian genetic programmed instruction book used regularly in the course. This investigator taught both groups throughout the study of Mendelian genetics.Psychological type equivalency between the two groups was established through the use of computer software called the Selection Ratio Type Table PC program (SRTT). No significant differences were identified between the control and experimental group with respect to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (Form G) testing either in relation to the sixteen main classes or to their subgroupings.A MANOVA statistical analysis was carried out on the data and was performed to test for significant differences between vectors of means for the three dependent measures of time-on-task, posttest achievement, and attitudes toward the instruction given with microcomputers. There was no significant difference between the two treatments toward the instruction given with regard to time-on-task, achievement, and attitude, when considered simultaneously, F(3,72) = 2.58 and p < .06. Further, when the MBTI subgroups of IN, EN, IS, and ES were considered simultaneously in relation to the three dependent measures as vectors of means, no significant differences toward the instruction given were discovered among the types in the treatment samples, F(9,175) = 1.47 and p < .16. / Department of Biology

This research extended and refined an in-service assessment model used in Project Genethics resulting in an evaluation of Project Genethics and a test of the model's utility. The model guided analyses of the correlational relationships between (a) teacher competency measured by a written 50-item validated posttest (Teacher 50), (b) the number of teaching strategies reported by the participant teachers (Strategy 20), and (c) student competency measured by a written 25-item validated posttest (Student 25) using a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient Lr). A multiple R statistic and stepwise linear regression with an F ratio were used to determine the association of Teacher 50 and Strategy 20 with the criterion, Student 25.The model is hierarchical. Subsets of test items and teaching strategies related to core genetics concepts (Mendelian genetics, mitosis and meiosis, pedigrees and probability, polygenic inheritance, and chromosome aberrations) were analyzed in teacher posttests, student posttests, and reported teaching strategies. Stepwise linear regression was used to determine the relative impact of the predictors on the criterion, Student 25.The research population consisted of 78 secondary biology teachers and 4,920 of their students. The teachers attend one of six Project Genethics workshops conducted in the summer of 1991, . funded by the National Science Foundation, and implemented by staff of the Human Genetics and Bioethics Education Laboratory (HGABEL).The researcher employed an ex g facto design. A summative data form was designed and used with project data for testing eight null hypotheses. A significant positive linear correlation was found between teacher competency and student competency and the number of strategies used in both full and subset analyses. No significant correlation was found between the number of strategies used and student performance in both full and subset analyses. The number of strategies used did not add significantly to the predictability of student competency after teacher competency was considered.The conceptual understanding of secondary students should be the ultimate criterion by which the effectiveness of in-service programs is measured provided the assessment items are congruent with the student conceptual level of understanding. Teacher knowledge was the most highly associated predictor of student concept attainment. / Department of Biology

Within the framework of social cognitive theory, the influence of self-efficacy beliefs and metacognitive prompting on genetics problem solving ability among high school students in Kenya was examined through a mixed methods research design. A quasi-experimental study, supplemented by focus group interviews, was conducted to investigate both the outcomes and the processes of students’ genetics problem-solving ability. Focus group interviews substantiated and supported findings from the quantitative instruments. The study was conducted in 17 high schools in Western Province, Kenya. A total of 2,138 high school students were purposively sampled. A sub-sample of 48 students participated in focus group interviews to understand their perspectives and experiences during the study so as to corroborate the quantitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, zero-order correlations, 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA,, and sequential hierarchical multiple regressions. Qualitative data were transcribed, coded, and reported thematically. Results revealed metacognitive prompts had significant positive effects on student problem-solving ability independent of gender. Self-efficacy and metacognitive prompting significantly predicted genetics problem-solving ability. Gender differences were revealed, with girls outperforming boys on the genetics problem-solving test. Furthermore, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between metacognitive prompting and genetics problem-solving ability. This study established a foundation for instructional methods for biology teachers and recommendations are made for implementing metacognitive prompting in a problem-based learning environment in high schools and science teacher education programs in Kenya. / Department of Biology

This study was designed to determine the relationship between participation in National Science Foundation (NSF) Pre-College Teacher Development (PTDS) Projects on Human Genetics and Bioethical Decision-Making held at Ball State University and classroom implementation of the Desired Biology Program described by Project Synthesis. NSF-PTDS Projects at Ball State University and Project Synthesis both focused on goals which emphasize human biology, biosocial concerns, and an understanding of the role that attitudes, values, and human needs exert in making decisions.The researcher employed an ex post facto criterion group design. Two groups of life science teachers, matched by gender, teaching experience, and location, were selected for study. The criterion group participated in NSF-PTDS Projects; the control group lacked NSF-PTDS Project experience. A questionnaire was constructed to collect data for testing eight null hypotheses. Questionnaires mailed to both criterion and control groups were designed to indicate the extent to which teachers implemented multifaceted instructional techniques, and goals directed toward human concerns, biosocial problems, and bioethical decision-making. The difference in percentage test was used to analyze categorical response items and three-way analysis of variance tested scaled response items.Teachers in both groups indicated they stressed the use of biological concepts to interpret human concerns. Groups differed in the amount of time allocated to human topics during the study of genetics. Although both groups of teachers devoted similar amounts of time to studying genetics, teachers in the criterion group tended to delete non-human topics and incorporate human topics to exemplify genetic principles.Both groups appeared to recognize the importance of addressing biosocial problems and issues resulting from recent advances in genetics, and instructed students in ways to use biological knowledge to help make decisions. However, teachers in the criterion group integrated significantly more bioethics into their biology and life science programs.Subjects in criterion and control groups primarily instructed students via lecture/discussion. Teachers in the criterion group made significantly greater use of outside speakers, films, videotapes, and television programs dealing with human genetics and bioethics.

In this study, an experimental group of college honors students were given instruction via researcher-developed Piagetian concrete operational learning strategies for the purpose of assessing: (1) the effectiveness of the strategies on concept acquisition in human genetics, and (2) growth in intellectual development as a result of the students' being instructed by concrete operational learning strategies rather than lecture.Evaluation of the effectiveness of the learning strategies on human genetics concept acquisition required the construction of comprehensive and unit pre/post-tests and administration of these tests to both experimental and control group populations. A Piagetian Task Instrument was administered as a pre/post-test to selected experimental group members to assess their growth, if any, in intellectual development. In addition, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used as a diagnostic instrument in an attempt to identify students preferring to learn via a concrete operational mode of instruction regardless of their Piagetian level of intellectual development.The comprehensive and unit pre/post-tests and the MBTI were administered for the purpose of testing the following null hypotheses: Null Hypothesis 1. There are no significant differences between themeans of the comprehensive pretest results and the comprehensive post-test results for either the experimental or control groups.NullHypothesis2.There is no significant difference between the experimental and the control groups with respect to the means of the comprehensive pre/post-test results.Null Hyothesis 3. There are no significant differences between the means of the results on the unit pretests and the unit posttests for either the experimental group or the control group.Null Hypothesis, 4. There are no significant differences between the means of the unit pre/post-test results when comparing the experimental and control groups.Null Hypothesis 5. There is no significant correlation between students preference, as indicated by a Likert scale item, for instructional method with any one or more of the indices on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.Results of the study led to the rejection of null hypotheses 1 and 3 at less than the .001 level. These data indicate that both concrete operational learning strategies and lecture were effective instructional methods in facilitating long-term and short-term human genetics concept acquisition.

M.Ed. (Subject Didactics) / Education in South Africa has had to face a process of unknown changes during the last few years of the past decade. One of the aspects of education which is receiving attention amid a wide spectrum of contributional factors concerning rationalisation, is the degree of success the current educational system is laying claim on. It is simply not economically viable to spend time in an unrealistic way regarding the instruction of science. There may be quite a few contributional factors which are eventually going to dictate the outcome of, among others, the teaching of Biology, but for the purpose of this thesis, the focus was on the possible existence of misconceptions among standard 9 pupils concerning genetics. The effect that misconceptions may have on the effectiveness of meaningful learning, is briefly covered in the theoretical basis of this study. During the last few years various articles of scientific nature have been published on the existence of misconceptions among pupils regarding the different sectional disciplines of Biology. Although, compared to the vast number of other scientific publications, relatively few publications concerned topics in Biology. The documentation of misconceptions regarding aspects of photosynthesis, respiration, various aspects of ecology and genetics (e.g. 1.3.1) seems to be well formulated. From the various articles it becomes clear that the existence of misconceptions concerning genetics is a definite factor which cannot be denied by the authors. The latter unanimously agree on the inhibitory effect that misconceptions have on the assimilation of new concepts of Biology which children encounter during formal education.