Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
Genetics is a difficult subject for majority of biology teachers
and students world-wide. It is recognized that majority of
students and even teachers of biology do not fully
understand the basic concepts of genetics. They also
experience difficulty in solving numerical problems of
genetics. During the last few decades, this problem has
become more acute due to the impact of molecular biology
on genetics. In this article, this problem has been illustrated
with the help of some examples of basic concepts, which
the author thinks are difficult and are not fully understood
by majority of teachers and students. The general problems
in teaching of genetics described in this article include
inherent variation in ability to understand among students,
and resistance to follow scientific teaching among teachers,
as demonstrated through well-designed logical
experimentation. The solutions suggested for improvement
of teaching include interactive teaching and preparations
of inventory of difficult concepts, and clickers questions.
The resources for improvement of teaching genetics that
are being developed by Genetics Society of America (GSA)
have been described in some detail. These resources also
include some ‘online web resources for teaching genetics’,
which include ‘MendelWeb’ and ‘GeneEd’ that are
periodically revised. A set of questions in the form Genetics
Concept Assessment (GCA) and a repository of clicker
questions have been recommended as a regular activity of
teachers for their own assessment followed by the
assessment of the students in the class room. Arrangement
of regular short training courses has also been
recommended for the unpgradation of the prescribed
contents of genetics courses, for developing newer teaching
methods and also for the preparation of teaching material
to improve the knowledge-base of teachers.
Keywords: Genetics, teaching, concept of genetics, school, college, university
Year: 2019
Volume: 79
Issue: 1, Supplement
Article DOI: 10.31742/IJGPB.79S.1.26
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
P. K. Gupta info_circle
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