Biotechnology Education: A Multiple Instructional Strategies Approach

The creation of an environment in which students are best able to learn is of primary concern for any teacher. Regardless of content, good instructors desire to meet the educational needs of their students. While increased understanding and comprehension is always desired, teachers presented with new curriculua or content areas are faced with the challenge of delivering and learning the new material, as well as teaching in the most effective manner. Teachers do not often have the time to consider and reflect on the appropriateness of a new curriculum, its content and structure, or instructional strategies for delivery. A call for the inclusion of biotechnology in technology education curricula (ITEA, 2000) raised these challenges for many technology education instructors. Questions about why and how to integrate biotechnology into existing programs will become more prominent in the near future: Why should biotechnology be included in technology education? What is biotechnology? How is the study of biotechnology structured? and What are some appropriate strategies for teaching biotechnology? This paper will provide a brief rationale for the inclusion of biotechnology in technology education, a definition of biotechnology, a structure of the content area, and an overview of pertinent learning theory. Most of the discussion focuses on an approach to biotechnology instruction that employs elements of the teaching and learning principles found in behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist theories.

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