2016 Volume 57 Issue 1 Pages 63-70
In recent years, DNA extraction experiments have come to be carried out frequently in biology classes at upper secondary schools. However, it is said that in the way the experiments are currently carried out, some students cannot verify that an extract is DNA (or include DNA). Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a process to check that an extract is DNA by using a reagent. In this study, we introduced an inspection process with the control experiment into the operation process of the conventional DNA extraction experiment and investigated whether the introduction of the inspection process was connected to improved understanding that the extract was DNA. As a result of the survey, about 1/3 of the students were not able to understand that an extract was DNA before the inspection. However, after the inspection, all the students became convinced that an extract was DNA. From this result, the importance of the detection using the reagent in the DNA extraction experiment has become clear. This research has shows that the use of the inspection process with the control experiment will help students verify and understand.
