The treatment of molecular genetics in eight Korean high school biologyⅡ textbooks and
four American high school biology textbooks were analyzed using a check-list made up of
twenty-nine items to give high school biology teachers useful information needed to plan a
teaching-learning strategy in the molecular genetics area.
Although explanation of DNA was rich in both Korean and American textbooks, that of
RNA was not sufficient in Korean textbooks in comparison with American textbooks. More
detailed explanation of DNA replication and its experimental evidence was presented in Korean
textbooks than American textbooks, but descriptions of difficult and abstract terms used in both
Korean and American textbooks were not sufficient for students to understand them clearly. In
Korean textbooks, there was a tendency to confuse gene, genetic information and genetic code
with one another in comparison with American textbooks. Although DNA transcription,
translation and gene expression were presented in detail, the definitions of main concepts and
appearance of terms in the textbooks were different from one another. In American textbooks,
regulation of gene expression in eukaryotic cells was treated, whereas that in prokaryotic cells
was treated in Korean textbooks. Most of the American textbooks distinguished genetic
engineering from biotechnology, but there was no distinction between genetic engineering and
biotechnology in most Korean textbooks.