Preparation and evaluation of the genetics knowledge test for assessing nineth graders

Genetiko mnogi smatrajo za eno najtežjih področij v biologiji, in je tudi panoga biologije, ki je v zadnjega pol stoletja doživela izrazit napredek. Danes lahko zaradi spoznanj v genetiki zdravimo različne bolezni, razvijamo razne biotehnološke procese, pridobivamo nove sorte rastlin in pasme živali. Spoznanja v genetiki pa so prinesla tudi nekaj dilem, ki posegajo tudi na področje družbe (Simon in sod., 2010). S prenovo učnega načrta predmeta Biologija za osnovne šole je bilo vanj vključenih tudi veliko vsebin genetike. Genetika sedaj ni le izbirni predmet, ampak je del obveznega programa, katerega vsebine so razporejene v osmi in deveti razred osnovne šole. V diplomski nalogi smo želeli ugotoviti, kakšno je znanje učencev izbranih osnovnih šol o genetiki. Želeli smo ugotoviti, ali obstajajo razlike v znanju med dekleti in fanti in med učenci osmih in učenci devetih razredov. Zanimalo nas je, ali nivo izobraževanja vpliva na uspešnost reševanja preizkusa znanja, ki smo ga pripravili. Ugotovili smo, da obstajajo statistično pomembne razlike v znanju genetike glede na razred, medtem ko so statistično pomembne razlike glede na spol opazne le pri majhnem številu vprašanj. Ugotovili smo tudi, da učenke in učenci izkazujejo dobro znanje, ko smo preverjali bolj splošna znanja o genetiki. Na področju specifičnih znanj pa so se odrezali slabše.Genetics is considered one of the toughest fields in biology, and is also a branch of biology, which in the last half century, has experienced impressive progress. Due to the findings in genetics today, we are able to treat various diseases, develop various biotechnological processes and acquire new varieties of plants and breeds of animals. Findings in genetics have brought about some dilemmas that encroach on the area of the society, too. With the renovation of the Biology curriculum for primary schools, a lot of content involving genetics was included. Genetics is now not only an optional subject, but is a part of the compulsory program , and its contents are included in eighth and ninth grade of primary school . In this thesis, we wanted to discover the level of pupils knowledge about genetics in chosen elementary schools. We wanted to find out, whether there are differences in skills between girls and boys and between eight and nine graders. We wanted to know whether the level of education affects the performance at the examination, that we prepared. We found that there are statistically significant differences in knowledge of genetics regarding the grade, while statistically significant differences according to sex are noticeable only in a small number of issues. We have also found out, that pupils demonstrate good knowledge but worse specific knowledge of genetics