Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;19(3):ar37.
doi: 10.1187/cbe.19-11-0221.

Students' Understanding of the Dynamic Nature of Genetics: Characterizing Undergraduates' Explanations for Interaction between Genetics and Environment

Michal Haskel-Ittah  1 , Ravit Golan Duncan  2 , Anat Yarden  1
Affiliations

Students' Understanding of the Dynamic Nature of Genetics: Characterizing Undergraduates' Explanations for Interaction between Genetics and Environment

Michal Haskel-Ittah et al. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

The idea of the interaction between genes and environment in the formation of traits is an important component of genetic literacy, because it explains the plastic nature of phenotypes. However, most studies in genetics education characterize challenges in understanding and reasoning about genetic phenomena that do not involve modulation by the environment. Therefore, we do not know enough to inform the development of effective instructional materials that address the influences of environmental factors on genes and traits, that is, phenotypic plasticity. The current study explores college students' understanding of phenotypic plasticity. We interviewed biological sciences undergraduates who are at different stages of their undergraduate studies and asked them to explain several phenomena that involved phenotypic plasticity. Analysis of the interviews revealed two types of mechanistic accounts: one type described the interaction as involving the environment directly acting on a passive organism; while the other described the interaction as mediated by a sensing-and-responding mechanism. While both accounts are plausible, the second account is critical for reasoning about phenotypic plasticity. We also found that contextual features of the phenomena may affect the type of account generated. Based on these findings, we recommend focusing instruction on the ways in which organisms sense and respond.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Two possible mechanistic accounts for explaining phenotypic plasticity. (A) Sensing–responding mechanism: the environment is sensed via a sensing mechanism that activates a response of modulating a biological mechanism. (B) Direct interaction between the environment and a biological mechanism. Pentagons represent biological entities that are involved in a biological mechanism (gray square).
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Significant differences between the distribution of the two mechanistic accounts in the four cases χ2 = 34.69, p < 0.0001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Albaladejo, C., Lucas, A. M. (1988). Pupils’ meanings for “mutation.” Journal of Biological Education, 22(3), 215–219.
    1. Batzli, J. M., Smith, A. R., Williams, P. H., McGee, S. A., Dosa, K., Pfammatter, J. (2014). Beyond Punnett squares: Student word association and explanations of phenotypic variation through an integrative quantitative genetics unit investigating anthocyanin inheritance and expression in Brassicarapa Fast Plants. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 13(3), 410–424. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bishop, B. A., Anderson, C. W. (1990). Student conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27(5), 415–427.
    1. Boerwinkel, D. J., Yarden, A., Waarlo, A. J. (2017). Reaching a consensus on the definition of genetic literacy that is required from a twenty-first-century citizen. Science & Education, 26(10), 1087–1114.
    1. Castéra, J., Clément, P., Abrougui, M., Nisiforou, O., Valanides, N., Turcinaviciene, J., ... & Bogner, F. (2008). Genetic determinism in school textbooks: A comparative study conducted among sixteen countries. Science Education International, 19(2), 163–184.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources