Teaching biotechnology and microbiology: differences between teachers' and students' points of view

摘要

We have actively developed some courses which include biotechnology, biochemistry, genetics and microbiology theory as well as practical sessions. These courses are addressed to secondary and high school students. Participating students and their science teachers were surveyed about the course-contents as well as their usefulness. The answers obtained from groups, students and teachers, show understandable differences. Students spent more time studying science than arts subjects, they are more interested in biotechnology and microbiology than teachers think but they have little science knowledge. Furthermore, opinions about the use of scientific software programs clearly differed; teachers consider them very interesting and useful whereas students don't feel strongly attracted. To summarize, the use of surveys helps us to show where the misunderstandings about basic concepts concerning biotechnology and microbiology lie. The same surveys can also assist us to design new experiments for solving this kind of misconceptions.