DESIGN OF A WEBSITE TO SUPPORT THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS OF GENETICS
Received: 18th February 2024 Revised: 30th April 2024 & 13th May 2024 Accepted: 1st April 2024
Keywords:
Knowledge Building Theory, Genetics, User Interface Design, UsabilityAbstract
Genetics is a science whose teaching-learning process is complex, mainly because it involves abstract concepts about objects invisible to human eyes, such as cells, genes, molecules. The aim of this work was the design of a website for the teaching-learning of genetics by undergraduate \
two aspects: content and user interface. The contents were defined based on an analysis of the skills and knowledge necessary for life sciences professionals. The user interface was designed based on the concept of usability, taking “simplicity” as a guiding criterion. The Genetics website (genetica.abaco2.org) contains resources and tools: infographics, short tests on specific topics, and a simple simulator of the Hardy-Weinberg Law, among others. In addition, short educational texts were designed whereby the student can be introduced to specific topics. The efficiency in learning to read two texts was evaluated in ten groups of undergraduate students (5 of them experimental) by applying a ten-question questionnaire. The experimental groups, which previously read the two educational texts, had 19.8% and 32.2 % more correct answers than the control groups (P<0.01). The Genética website designed is a resource that supports the teaching-learning of specific topics in Genetics that has proven to be useful to undergraduate students and their professors.
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