Investigation of undergraduate and master students’ understanding of gene structure and function

The concept of gene is constantly changing, becoming increasingly complex and difficult to teach and learn. This study investigates the gene concept acquired by Italian undergraduate and master students in biological/natural sciences. The undergraduate students attended a basic biology course the year before the survey, while the master students attended a general genetics course two years before. Students were asked to answer the open-ended question 'what is a gene?' Answers were analysed in terms of gene concept (structure and function) and gene-trait relationship. The survey was repeated for five academic years to check if the results fluctuated over time. A significant difference was found between the two groups of students with regard to the gene concept: a simplistic Mendelian conception was prevalent among the undergraduates, whereas a more complex modern/molecular conception prevailed among the master students. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in the gene-trait relationship: most students in both groups described it in a reductionist way (a single gene determines a trait). These results suggest that there is a need to improve the teaching of biology and genetics, to prevent students from losing sight of the complexity and to avoid oversimplification, which could lead to a deterministic view.