Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2010 Spring;9(1):25-33. doi: 10.1187/cbe.08-09-0055.
Molecular life science is one of the fastest-growing fields of scientific and technical innovation, and biotechnology has profound effects on many aspects of daily life-often with deep, ethical dimensions. At the same time, the content is inherently complex, highly abstract, and deeply rooted in diverse disciplines ranging from "pure sciences," such as math, chemistry, and physics, through "applied sciences," such as medicine and agriculture, to subjects that are traditionally within the remit of humanities, notably philosophy and ethics. Together, these features pose diverse, important, and exciting challenges for tomorrow's teachers and educational establishments. With backgrounds in molecular life science research and secondary life science teaching, we (Tibell and Rundgren, respectively) bring different experiences, perspectives, concerns, and awareness of these issues. Taking the nature of the discipline as a starting point, we highlight important facets of molecular life science that are both characteristic of the domain and challenging for learning and education. Of these challenges, we focus most detail on content, reasoning difficulties, and communication issues. We also discuss implications for education research and teaching in the molecular life sciences.
分子生命科学是科技创新中发展最快的领域之一，生物技术对日常生活的许多方面都有深远的影响——通常具有深刻的伦理维度。与此同时，其内容本质上是复杂的、高度抽象的，并且深深扎根于从“纯科学”（如数学、化学和物理）到“应用科学”（如医学和农业）再到传统上属于人文科学领域的学科，尤其是哲学和伦理学。这些特征共同为未来的教师和教育机构带来了多样化、重要且令人兴奋的挑战。我们（分别是 Tibell 和 Rundgren）在分子生命科学研究和中学生命科学教学方面拥有背景，带来了不同的经验、观点、关注点以及对这些问题的认识。从学科的本质出发，我们强调了分子生命科学的重要方面，这些方面既是该领域的特点，也是学习和教育的挑战。在这些挑战中，我们最详细地关注内容、推理困难和沟通问题。我们还讨论了这些问题对分子生命科学教育研究和教学的影响。
