Understanding how teaching affects students' attitudes and beliefs is notoriously difficult, specifically in a quickly evolving and societally relevant field such as genetics. The aim of this survey study is to capitalize our previous research and examine how teaching relates to Finnish secondary school students' liking of, self-concept in and…

In this article, we describe the main phases in the development and validation of a questionnaire measuring secondary students' teleology and essentialism conceptions in the context of genetics. The validation process involved 714 Swiss and French secondary school students from 14 different schools. The process included interviews, several pilot…

This study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of high school students' errors while solving genetics problems. Four students were asked to solve two genetics problems and participate in a modified think-aloud interview. Data from the interview, video clips of the problem-solving process, and test sheets were used to analyse participants'…

Science education strives to increase interest in science and facilitate active citizenship. Thus, the aspects of personal and societal relevance are increasingly emphasised in science curricula. Still, little is known about how teachers choose content for their teaching, although their choices translate curricula to teaching practice. We explored…

The goal of inclusive design to promote participation of marginalised groups in science is ubiquitous across informal science education, and in the growing field of citizen science. Yet the aspiration of equality in the sciences continues to be met with challenges. Despite decades of educational research studying the barriers of participation in…

Research in learning progressions (LPs) has been essential towards building understanding of how students' ideas change over time. There has been little work, however, into how ideas between separate but related constructs within a multi-faceted LP relate. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the idea of "progression webs" to…

Pedigree problems are typical tasks in school genetics classes. However, they are perceived as difficult and often are not successfully completed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine relevant factors that might have an impact on success in pedigree analysis. Based on previous research, we investigate the influence of the…

This study explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its development of four experienced biology teachers in the context of teaching school genetics. PCK was defined in terms of teacher content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of students' preconceptions and learning difficulties. Data sources of teacher knowledge base…

Building upon a methodologically diverse research foundation, we adapted and validated the "Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics" (LPA-MG) for college students' knowledge of the domain. Toward collecting valid learning progression-based measures in a college majors context, we redeveloped and content validated a…

This mixed methods study explores college biology students' perceptions of the utility of evolution knowledge. In Phase I, 14 college biology students from an upper-level Evolution course were interviewed about their evolution acceptance and perceptions of the utility of evolutionary knowledge. In Phase II, findings from Phase I were used to…

Accurate, rational, and scientific decision making is now considered to be the most important skill in science education. Many studies have found that overconfidence bias is one of the cognitive biases hindering people from achieving such decision making. Gender and country play crucial roles in overconfidence bias. For instance, some particular…

This study investigates upper secondary students' situational interest in a collaborative citizen science programme that involves genetic monitoring of freshwater fauna by analysing environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from local pond water. The programme was attended by a sample that comprised 1879 students (M[subscript age] = 18.15, SD = 1.94)…

Contemporary genomics research will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who want to teach up-to-date genetics in secondary education. This article reports on a research project aimed at enhancing biology teachers' expertise for teaching genetics situated in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge…

Scientific literacy reflects an understanding of science as it relates to use of science in real-world contexts. Socioscientific issues (SSIs) are real-world problems that are complex in their acknowledgement of social as well as scientific aspects of the problem and are well-suited to support scientific literacy objectives. Because of their…

Recent developments in the field of genomics will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who teach genetics in secondary education. This study reports on the first results of a research project aimed at enhancing biology teacher knowledge for teaching genetics in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge…