Institute of Plant, Animal and Agroecosystem Sciences, Biology Department, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse, 2, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
N Biotechnol. 2010 Dec 31;27(6):822-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2010.01.338. Epub 2010 Feb 21.
Undoubtedly, biotechnology has a tremendous impact on our daily lives. As a result of this and in parallel to the advancement of knowledge in this field of applied research, consumer awareness of the potential benefits and risks of this technology has steadily increased, leading to a thorough investigation of the public perception of biotechnology in the past years. Indeed, it has become clear that it is in the general interest of science and especially of applied research to inform the public of its advances. A promising next step is to strengthen biotechnology communication in scholastic institutions. In this paper, we investigate the perception of biotechnology in a specific target group, namely high-school students in the 16-20-year-old age range. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey on a total of 1410 students in six European countries to investigate students' perception, concern, scientific knowledge, and awareness. Our data revealed some unexpected patterns of acceptance and concern about biotechnology. Knowledge analysis indicated that pupils lack specific knowledge about biotechnological applications and their interest in biotechnology appeared to be linked to knowledge. Analysis of specific questions about teaching practices at schools suggests that a better targeted choice in media as vehicles for information together with selected speakers could be instrumental in increasing students' interest in science and more specifically in biotechnology.
毫无疑问，生物技术对我们的日常生活产生了巨大的影响。由于这一点，以及在这一应用研究领域知识的不断进步，消费者对这项技术的潜在益处和风险的认识稳步提高，这导致了过去几年对公众对生物技术的看法的彻底调查。事实上，很明显，让公众了解科学的进展符合科学的利益，特别是符合应用研究的利益。一个有希望的下一步是加强学术机构的生物技术交流。在本文中，我们研究了一个特定目标群体对生物技术的看法，即 16 至 20 岁的高中生。我们在六个欧洲国家对总共 1410 名学生进行了基于问卷调查的调查，以调查学生的看法、关注、科学知识和意识。我们的数据显示了一些关于生物技术接受和关注的出人意料的模式。知识分析表明，学生缺乏关于生物技术应用的具体知识，他们对生物技术的兴趣似乎与知识有关。对学校教学实践的具体问题的分析表明，更好地选择媒体作为信息载体，并选择合适的发言人，可以提高学生对科学的兴趣，更具体地说，提高他们对生物技术的兴趣。
