Investigation of Peer Discussions on Genetic Concepts

This study is an investigation on how students express their understanding of genetic concepts and their relations during peer discussions. Participants in this study were non-major students from a Swedish upper secondary school. Special attention was paid to how the groups treated the domain- specific vocabulary, how they expressed their understanding of reduction division and how they connected concepts from different biological organization levels. These subject areas have been reported as difficult for students in earlier studies. The results show discussions concerning the three subject areas and in the discussions the students help each other to make the meaning of the genetic concepts clear. The analysis is based on socio-cultural perspectives with focus on how the participants treated the genetic content from the previously presented subject areas in their discussions