LEARNING GENETICS

Tony Griffiths

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, Canada

The following 34 items represent the text of the slides used for my talk to the Genetics Society of Australia, Melbourne, July 9, 1996. The slides show in note form the main ideas presented during the talk. If further clarification is needed, or for other discussion, please contact me at agriff@unixg.ubc.ca

1 Students find genetics difficult

* prior rewards for factual memorization and recall

* analytical/problem-solving approach of genetics

2 Student performance seems to be declining

* Success rates in UBC courses

* Various scholastic aptitude tests

* M.Sc and Ph.D comprehensive exams

* General trend, but worse in genetics

* (Faculty instruction seems to be improving)

4 Understanding genetics is crucial

* central position in biology

* scientific logic

* shapes world view

* societal and individual ethics

* human genetic disease

* diverse applications (plant/animal breeding, pharmaceuticals, recombinant DNA etc..)

5 What is understanding?

* Student complaint: I understand this material, but I am still failing

* Representation - useful for understanding, but not sufficient.

* Understanding is flexible performance capacity (David Perkins, Harvard U.)

6 How do students learn genetics?

* lectures

* problem-solving

* reading

* tutorials

* interactive multimedia

7 Lecturing is generally ineffective

* Medieval format

* Being very, very clear is not enough

* Promotes passivity

* Particularly ineffective in genetics

8 Traditional learning

* INSTRUCTOR: tells, controls class, purveys wisdom

* STUDENT: passively receives, depends on instructor, non-reflective. (I have paid good money to come here and be taught by an expert)

9 Drowning in Facts

* Traditional biology courses: lots o facts

* Bringing students up to speed

* Little opportunity to work with facts

* Less is more

10 From the Editor's Introduction to Animal Biology by J B S Haldane and Julian Huxley, 1927.

* "If it is the scientific point of view, and not merely a collection of facts, that we wish to impress on those we teach, then it becomes increasingly necessary to cut out needless detail, to concentrate on fundamentals, to arouse interest from the outset. A student who has become interested in the ideas of science and has been brought to appreciate scientific method is educated in a much more desirable, and indeed in a much more complete, way than one who has succeeded simply in assimilating a large quantity of detailed facts."

11 Characteristics needed in college graduates

High level communication skills

Ability to define problems, gather and evaluate information, develop solutions

Team skills - ability to work with others

Ability to use skills to address problems in complex real-world situations

(Quality Assurance in Undergraduate Education , Wingspread Conference, Denver 1994)

12 Graduate phenotype desired by GM Corporation

* Recognizes recurring themes

* Sees relationships

* Combines familiar to create new forms

* Thinks logically

* Speaks clearly and economically

* Brings order out of confusion

* Feels comfortable with nonconformity

13 Promoting instructional change

* Getting instructors to change is like herding cats

* Popular view of scientists: people with vast amounts of knowledge

* The university -> school -> university cycle

* No time for new approaches

* No incentives

14 CONSTRUCTIVISM

* People learn by actively processing new information

* New ideas are assimilated only when previous concepts are seen to be in conflict with new data

* I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. (Chinese proverb)

15 Constructivist learning

* INSTRUCTOR: facilitates learning, shares control of class, promotes metacognition

* STUDENT: actively constructs knowledge, independent, metacognitive

16 Metacognition as a route to understanding

* Metacognition: thinking about thinking processes

* Metacognition jump-starts analytical processes

* Provides students with a way of getting to first base

17 Students resist metacognition

* Used to passivity

* Seems childish; kindergarten

* Requires risk-taking

* Exposes their ignorance

* Dont see the need

18 Genetics has well-established principles

* In contrast to other subjects in biology

* Principles used in genetic analysis

* Students demonstrate understanding of principles in mini analyses (problems)

* Selecting the right principle is the difficult step

19 Genetics problems simulate genetics

* Microcosms of data analysis

* Time-honoured approach to learning genetics and other quantitative subjects

* Knowledge that you cannot use is worthless

* Demonstrate flexible performance capacity

20 An Introduction to Genetics : by A. H. Sturtevant & G. W. Beadle

* Published in 1940 - the first genetics text to include problems?

* Preface: 'Genetics resembles other mathematically developed subjects in that facility in the use and understanding of its principles comes only from using them. The problems at the end of each chapter are designed to give this practice. The student will find that it is important that they actually be solved.'

21 Problem-solving often doesn't solve the problem

* Hear principles

* Apply principles to problems

* Solve problems

* The solving processes are vast, complex and unexplored

22 The language of genetics is genetics

* Students complain of language heterogeneity

* There is no genetic Esperanto

* Genetics doesnt exist in any other sense

* Language requires oral practice

23 Multiple representations in genetics

* The meaning of a straight line

* Alternative allele symbolisms

* Punnets / pedigrees / branches

* Too many crosses

24 Zooming in genetics

* zooming between organizational levels (molecule to population)

* zooming between different parts of the subject and into other related subjects eg cell biology, development, evolution

* Professionals do this with ease; students find it challenging

* Courses compartmentalize information

25 Zooming on replication

* DNA replication allows

* chromosome replication allows

* Nuclear division allows

* cell division allows

* organismal growth allows

* organismal reproduction allows

* population growth

26 Zooming on gene action

* gene function

* protein function

* organelle function

* cell function

* tissue function

* organ function

* organismal phenotype

27 Problem unpacking (expansion)

* To professionals, a genetics problem is the working area of a huge file of knowledge

* To a student, a genetics problem is just a genetics problem

* Unpacking is a way of exploring the contents of the file

28 Concept maps

* Six to ten genetic terms provided

* Connect related terms with directional arrows

* Label arrow s with propositional connecting statements

* Try to make distant connections

29 TAPPS

* (Thinking-aloud pair problem-solving)

* One student (the solver) solves problem out loud

* One student (the responder) asks solver why certain steps are taken

* Can be extended to three by adding a scribe

30 Genetic story-telling

* Knowledge seems to be stored in the brain in the form of stories

* The story (a strung-together series of ideas) is easy to retrieve

* Base on photographs (every picture tells a story), experiments, specimens etc.

* Re-tell a story told by instructor

31 Models and Mimics

* An instructor modeling how to solve a problem is generally ineffective

* For a student can mimic a solution, s/he has to exercise metacognition

* Chess expertise based largely on traveling pre-travelled routes

32 Problem reversal

* Genetics works in opposite directions; for example

* (1) Given these parents, predict the progeny

* (2) Given these progeny deduce the parents

* Challenge students to reverse an assigned problem

33 Problem-based learning (PBL)

* Another alternative to lecturing

* Instructor-led groups of students work on a problem over several weeks

* Problem can be a case study, experimental data analysis, experimental design, commercial product development etc.

34 Assessments must reflect course activities

* Instructor might believe that metacognition works

* Students don't have proof of this

* For students to buy in, exercises in metacognition must be on the exam