Breaking the disciplinary barriers: A concept-centered approach to the teaching of biotechnology
The immersion unit was developed over six months of intense work by various chemistry and biology experts on biotechnology who met regularly to define the learning outcomes, the specific objectives, and then the corresponding hands-on activities. The latter were carefully designed to include a hands-on activity from chemistry and another from biology to teach the same concept from different standpoints. Pre-service and in service teachers participated both in the design and implementation of the unit. The activities included DNA isolation, bacterial transformation and DNA forensic analysis. They were implemented during six consecutive days in June 2007. A pretest and a post test, designed specifically for the immersion unit, were given and their results analyzed globally and item by item. This included a t-test to determine that in fact there was a significant difference between both tests and an f-test to assess that there were no significant differences between the variances. As part of each workshop the participants reflected on what they had learned and on ways to transfer their knowledge to their classrooms.
