In context assessment of biology teachers’ content knowledge about the genome in relation to genetic testing

Abstract

Developments in genomics have led educational researchers to advocate for more genomics in high school biology education and a concept context approach instead of more conventional teaching strategies. Besides changes in the curriculum this will require a change in the content knowledge of biology teachers. At this moment it is unclear whether biology teachers possess the required knowledge. Based on interviews with four experts, ten learning objectives have been developed. Starting from these learning objectives, a case based assessment has been developed that can be used to evaluate teachers’ knowledge on genomics in relation to genetic testing. Besides producing learning objectives and a case this research has made a first assessment of the deficiencies in the knowledge of teachers. This knowledge can be used when designing new (post) teacher training activities. It will help teachers to be more confident when teaching about genetic testing.