2020 Volume 60 Issue 3 Pages 589-601
The purpose of this study was to help lower secondary school students understand that 1) “evolution” led to the existing “diversity” of organisms that emerged from “common” ancestors, and 2) “biological evolution” occurred by means of genetic mutation whereby adaptions that were advantageous for survival have been transmitted from parents to their offspring. In the new course of study guidelines for lower secondary schools, the “Biodiversity and Evolution” unit has shifted from the eighth-grade textbook to the ninth-grade one, and it will be taught immediately after the “Law of Heredity and Genes” in the “Genetic Continuity” unit. “Evolution” and “Genetics” were opposing concepts in the history of biology, however they were later synthesized (Modern Synthesis). In the new course of study guidelines for lower secondary schools, the circumstances via which these opposing concepts were synthesized are not described. Therefore, in this study, we developed the learning plans that integrated the “Evolution” and “Genetics” units based on the new course of study guidelines. We prepared a primary genetics activity and evaluation tasks based on “Pasta Genetics”, which was developed at the University of Washington. Through analyzing the data from this study, it became clear that this instructional strategy was effective for the promotion of scientific and evolutionary understanding among the participating lower secondary school students.
