Biology teachers’ beliefs about biotechnology and biotechnology education in the eastern province of Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examines teachers‘ understanding of the normative connections between key concepts of biotechnology and underlying biological principles that are critical for an in-depth understanding of teaching biotechnology education in school. Many teachers avoid addressing biotechnology topics available in the Advanced Level biology curriculum. Aiming to explore the factors which influence teachers‘ practice, using a structural questionnaire, we examine randomly selected teachers‘ understanding of these relationships at school level in the Eastern Province in Sri Lanka. A total of 63 biology teachers participated in this study and completed written questionnaire on their beliefs about biotechnology and biotechnology education. Findings from this study were: there is a strong positive response on teachers believes that biotechnology is interesting and important for life improvement (M=4.46,SD=0.96, t(62)=12.02, P=0.00) and this attitude influences their practice towards biotechnology education. Almost all the teachers had a good knowledge on biotechnology but not the relationship between application and basic knowledge which was observed to be with significant value. The teachers were willing to buy GM food if they were healthiest than other foods. However, they did not accept the application of biotechnology for medical purposes for some reasons. Many teachers consider that biotechnology education is important. The interest towards the subject and subject information persuades this attitude. Although outcome is preliminary in nature, the results provide cause for concern over the status of biotechnology education in Sri Lanka that needs uplift from the ground level.