%0 Journal Article
%T Benefits of Hands-On Biotechnology Training Workshops for Secondary School Educators and College Students
%A Ahmad N. Aziz
%A Fisseha Tegegne
%A Roger W. Wiemers
%J Journal of Biotech Research
%D 2009
%I 
%X This paper is based on a project that evaluated the benefits of biotechnology training workshops for its integration into school curriculum that is dependent on teachers¡¯ knowledge, their teaching confidence, as well as their opinion towards biotechnology. Teachers, as well as a parallel group comprising of college students, were given pre- and post-training tests to assess changes in their knowledge and opinion about biotechnology. Participant teachers¡¯ confidence in teaching biotechnology was also assessed. These evaluations revealed a significant increase in the post-test scores compared to the pre-test for teachers (df = 22, t= 12.706, p<0.0001) and college students (df= 12, t= 5.584, p<0.0001). In addition, the teachers (df= 39, t= 8.078, p<0.0001) as well as the college students (df= 7, t= 4.174, p=0.0042) registered a significant increase in their positive attitude towards biotechnology after the training workshops. Biotechnology teaching confidence of the participant educators also showed a significant increase (df= 35, t= 6.393, p<.0001) after the workshops. However, urban teachers had a significantly greater (df= 34, t= -3.191, p=0.0030) gain of 0.376 in their post-training teaching confidence compared to the 0.145 gain by their rural counterparts. Additionally, a statistically significant (r= 0.868, r-squared= 0.7534, p= .0219) relationship was found between teaching confidence and positive opinion of the teachers regarding biotechnology. Since teachers¡¯ pedagogical approach and adoption of biotechnology curriculum is dependent on the above issues, results presented in this study are important for designing future biotechnology training workshops.
%U http://btsjournals.com/Documents/2009v1p72-79.pdf