Teaching Genetics in Secondary Classrooms : a Linguistic Analysis of Teachers' Talk About Proteins

• Published in: Research in science education (Australasian Science Education Research Association) Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 81 - 108
• Main Authors: Thörne, Karin, Gericke, Niklas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2014; Springer
• Subjects: Biologi; biologididaktik; Biology; Case Studies; Classroom Communication; compulsory school; Concept formation; Cytology; Discourse Analysis; Education; Foreign Countries; Genetics; genetikundervisning; Grade 9; grundskolan; micro-macro; mikro-makro; proteiner; Proteins; Science Education; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Science teaching; Scientific concepts; Secondary education; Secondary school science; Secondary School Students; Sweden; systemic functional linguistics; systemisk funktionell lingvistik; Teacher behaviour; teaching genetics; Teaching Methods; Verbal Communication; Year 9; Sweden; Proteins; Classroom study; Genetics education; Secondary school; Teachers language
• ISSN: 0157-244X; 1573-1898; 1573-1898
• DOI: 10.1007/s11165-013-9375-9

This study investigates Swedish biology teachers' inclusion of proteins when teaching genetics in grade nine (students 15-16 years old). For some years, there has been a call to give attention to proteins when teaching genetics as a means of linking the concepts 'gene' and 'trait'. Students are known to have problems with this relation because the concepts belong to different organisational levels. However, little is known about how the topic is taught and therefore this case study focuses on how teachers talk about proteins while teaching genetics and if they use proteins as a link between the micro and macro level. Four teachers were recorded during entire genetics teaching sequences, 45 lessons in total. The teachers' verbal communication was then analysed using thematic pattern analysis, which is based in systemic functional linguistics. The linguistic analysis of teachers' talk in action revealed great variations in both the extent to which they used proteins in explanations of genetics and the ways they included proteins in linking genes and traits. Two of the teachers used protein as a link between gene and trait, while two did not. Three of the four teachers included instruction about protein synthesis. The common message from all teachers was that proteins are built, but none of the teachers talked about genes as exclusively encoding proteins. The results suggest that students' common lack of understanding of proteins as an intermediate link between gene and trait could be explained by limitations in the way the subject is taught. [Author abstract, ed]