Genetic essentialism of race is the belief that racial groups have different underlying genetic essences which cause them to differ physically, cognitively, or behaviorally. Apparently, no published studies have explored if belief in genetic essentialism of race among adolescents differs after many weeks of formal instruction about different domains of genetics knowledge. Nor have any studies explored if such differences reflect a coherent change in students’ racial beliefs. We use a quasi-experimental design (N = 254 students in 7th–12th grade) to explore these gaps. Over the course of 3 months, we compared students who learned from a curriculum on multifactorial inheritance and genetic ancestry to students who learned from their business as usual (BAU) genetics curriculum that discussed Mendelian and molecular genetics without any reference to race, multifactorial genetics, or genetic ancestry. Relative to the BAU condition, classrooms that learned from the multifactorial genetics and ancestry curriculum grew significantly more in their knowledge of multifactorial genetics and decreased significantly more in their genetic essentialist perceptions, attributions, and beliefs. From a conceptual change perspective, these findings suggest that classrooms using a curriculum emphasizing genetic complexity are more likely to shift toward a coherent anti-essentialist understanding of racial difference.

中文翻译：

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从基础到人道基因组学素养

种族的遗传本质主义认为种族群体具有不同的潜在遗传本质，这导致他们在身体、认知或行为上有所不同。显然，没有已发表的研究探讨过，在经过数周关于不同遗传学知识领域的正式指导后，青少年对种族遗传本质主义的信念是否有所不同。也没有任何研究探讨这种差异是否反映了学生种族信仰的连贯变化。我们使用准实验设计（N = 254 名 7 至 12 年级学生）来探索这些差距。在3个月的时间里，我们比较了从多因素遗传和遗传血统课程中学习的学生与从他们的常规 (BAU) 遗传学课程中学习的学生，这些课程讨论了孟德尔和分子遗传学，但没有提及种族、多因素遗传学或遗传血统。相对于 BAU 条件，从多因素遗传学和祖先课程中学习的课堂在多因素遗传学知识方面显着增长，而在遗传本质主义的看法、归因和信念方面则显着减少。从概念变化的角度来看，这些发现表明，使用强调遗传复杂性的课程的课堂更有可能转向对种族差异的一致反本质主义理解。或遗传血统。相对于 BAU 条件，从多因素遗传学和祖先课程中学习的课堂在多因素遗传学知识方面显着增长，而在遗传本质主义的看法、归因和信念方面则显着减少。从概念变化的角度来看，这些发现表明，使用强调遗传复杂性的课程的课堂更有可能转向对种族差异的一致反本质主义理解。或遗传血统。相对于 BAU 条件，从多因素遗传学和祖先课程中学习的课堂在多因素遗传学知识方面显着增长，而在遗传本质主义的看法、归因和信念方面则显着减少。从概念变化的角度来看，这些发现表明，使用强调遗传复杂性的课程的课堂更有可能转向对种族差异的一致反本质主义理解。