Technology Teachers’ Beliefs About Biotechnology and Its Instruction in South Korea

The increased public awareness of the significance and necessity of biotechnology has encouraged educators to implement biotechnology instruction in various educational settings. One example is the great effort made by educational researchers and practitioners internationally to integrate biotechnology in technology education. Despite the gains in the popularity of biotechnology in education, the actual implementation of biotechnology instruction is not prevalent. Previous studies suggest that technology teachers’ beliefs are a significant predictor of the implementation of biotechnology instruction for technology education. Thus, there is a need for further studies on this topic, however, this study investigates Korean technology teachers’ beliefs related to the implementation of biotechnology instruction. It also includes several issues that are implied by the findings. A piloted self-reported online survey developed by the authors was administered to 114 Korean middle school technology teachers. This survey collected demographic information and measured these teachers’ intent to implement biotechnology instruction into their classes (intent). The teachers’ beliefs were measured in three domains: value (technology teachers’ perceived beliefs about biotechnology teaching as valuable); expectancy (technology teachers’ perceived beliefs about biotechnology teaching as expectancy); and innovation (technology teachers’ perceived beliefs about biotechnology teaching as a need regarding innovation). Results indicate that Korean technology teachers’ beliefs measured by value, expectancy, and innovation were significantly associated with teacher intent to teach biotechnology content in their classes. This study recommends that biotechnology content should be delivered systematically to technology teachers through professional development (i.e., in-service and pre-service training).