Pre-service biology teachers' knowledge, cultural beliefs and attitudes towards persons with genetic related conditions

Abstract

Despite the increasing scientific knowledge, cultural beliefs and attitudes of preservice biology teachers towards persons with genetic conditions still seems to be negative and the stigmatisation attached to it is worrisome. It was therefore the purpose of this study to explore pre-service biology teachers‘ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards persons with genetic-related conditions in the Central Region of Ghana. A descriptive survey design was employed in this study. An intact sampling technique was used to sample 162 final year pre-service biology teachers from OLA and Fosu Colleges of Education who participated in the study. A five-point Likert Scale item questionnaire was used to elicit information from pre-service biology teachers to answer the research questions. The data was processed using SPSS version 20. The influence of pre-service biology teachers‘ knowledge on their attitude towards persons with genetic-related conditions was determined through correlational analysis. The study found out that the final year pre-service biology teachers had moderate knowledge on genetic-related conditions, positive cultural beliefs and positive attitudes towards persons with GRCs. Correlational analysis of their knowledge against their attitude showed that their knowledge had a little influence on their attitude. The study recommended that further studies should involve all preservice biology teachers