Teachers Favor Biotechnology Curriculum

July 18, 2000

Biotechnology ranked first on a list of 11 topics that middle school and high school teachers would like to include in future curricula, according to a survey conducted at the National Science Teachers Association annual convention in Orlando, FL, in April, the American Farm Bureau Federation reports.

More than 600 science teachers completed surveys about their knowledge of agriculture, biotechnology and related curriculum needs. The survey was conducted by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture in partnership with Novartis Seeds, Inc. Teachers who completed the survey received a package of microwave popcorn and a CD-ROM titled "A Short Course on Biotechnology."

In this survey, only 10% of elementary teachers said they currently include biotechnology in the curriculum. That answer jumps to 25% at the middle school level and 59% at the high school level. When considering topics they would like to include in the future, teachers ranked biotechnology foremost on the list of 11 topics for middle school and high school teachers with about one-third of them describing biotechnology as their first priority.

The 604 survey respondents were divided almost evenly across elementary, middle and high school levels. When asked how familiar they are with current food production methods, teachers gave themselves an average grade of three on a scale from one to five, with one being very familiar and five being not familiar. However, only 27% of elementary teachers, and about 18% of middle school and high school teachers were familiar with Agriculture in the Classroom, a state-based nationwide program that provides educational materials and resources to educate students about today's agriculture.