All in the genes? - young people's understanding of the nature of genes

This paper reports on young people's understanding of genes as they near th e end of their compulsory science education in the UK. A sample of 482 scho ol students aged 14 - 16, drawn from across the ability range, took part in this study. Findings, based mainly on written responses to written questio ns, but supported by interview data, show that this sample had only a very limited understanding of the most basic ideas relating to function, structu re, and location of genes. It is argued that these findings are not atypica l for this population of school students. The implications for teaching the more complex genetic concepts demanded by the National Curriculum - geneti c engineering, for example - are considered.