Some Criticism on the Teaching of "Variation" in Biology for Senior High Schools of Japan

Abstract

Teaching of "variation" in biology of our senior high schools is in a bewildering chaos of terms and concepts. A Japanese term "abrupt variation" means mutation and a type of variation that is synonimous with inherited, discontinuous variation. Fluctuation, individual variation, individual difference, and noninherited, discontinuous variation are all the synonims of a single term meaning in Japanese "individual variation". Geographical variation, or similar terms that signify group variations are rarely distinguished clearly from the variations among individuals. This chaotic state has never been sharply criticized, since there has been a general tendency among the majority of biologists in Japan to negrect or ignore the importance of variation. A major misconception underlying the tendency is typological thinking, which has to be eliminated before any scheme for improving the teaching of "variation" in biology could be proposed. It may be impossible to find any biological significance in the variation of organisms, as long as the typological thinking is held in mind consciously or unconsciously. Introducing population thinking and using well defined terms, the auther’s tentative scheme for the improvement of teaching "variation" in senior high school biology was presented, in which the main emphasis was placed on the importance of variation in adaptation of individuals and populations of a species to the environments.