UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EPIGENETICS PERSISTENCE OF GENETIC DETERMINISM

Abstract

In recent decades, Genetic issues play a large role in health and public policy and new knowledge in this field continues to have significant implications for individuals and society. In spite of this increased exposure to genetics, recent studies of the general public’s genetics knowledge show a relatively low understanding of genetics concepts. Eepigenetics is a new paradigm in biology. Nevertheless, the notion of genetic determinism is still present in syllabuses and textbooks. The present research explores the future Biology teachers’ conceptions related to the genetic determinism of human performances. The research method is a questionnaire elaborated by the Biohead-Citizen consortium. The findings revealed  that future Biology teachers still reducing the biological identity to a genetic program. The set can also enhance the danger of hereditarian ideology and justifies the fatalism and racism. We concluded that the teaching of epigenetics becomes a scientific and citizen challenge.