Improvement of Bioethics in the Unit of 'Heredity and Evolvement' of Middle School Ninth-Grade Science

중학교 3학년 과학 '유전과 진화' 영역을 통한 생명윤리의식 함양

The purpose of this study was to establish objectives for ninth grade studies of heredity and evolution in middle school in an attempt to foster students' consciousness of bioethics, and it's additionally intended to develop and apply lesson plans handling different points at issue and to determine the effects of the lesson plans on the bioethics of middle school students. The subjects in this study were 152 ninth graders in a middle school, whose science scores were similar. An experimental group and a control group were made up of 76 students respectively, and a pretest was conducted with test paper developed by this researcher to assess their awareness of bioethics. The experimental group took lessons by using the teaching plans prepared in this study, and the control group received typical education according to the curriculum. And then a posttest was implemented with test paper developed in this study to compare the two groups. In addition their science grades were compared as well. The findings of the study were as follows: First, seven learning objectives were selected from three units related to bioethics in the third-year 8th category of heredity and evolution of middle school. Second, in order to attain the selected learning objectives, four session lesson plans were prepared. Third, the experimental group that studied using by the lesson plans made better progress in bioethics awareness and the gap between the two was statistically significant(t=6.61, p<.001). The former were ahead of the latter in consciousness about species equity(t=7.71, p<.001), the dignity of life (t=3.78, p<.001), human rights(t=2.99, p<.01) and equity among generations(t=2.66, p<.01), but not in awareness of the diversity of species. Fourth, there was no significant gap in science scores between the students studied according to the curriculum and those who received instructions by using the lesson plans developed in the study.