High-School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Biotechnology

Perceptions regarding biotechnologies among high-school students have been too little researched compared to those of adults. In this paper, we present the results of an empirical research on high school students' knowledge and attitudes towards biotechnology. The objectives of the paper are: (1) Exploring the knowledge of Romanian high school students about biotechnologies; (2) Exploration of differences regarding perceptions related to biotechnologies based on gender, age, and profile variables; (3) Identifying the correlation between knowledge and attitudes regarding biotechnologies. The study participants were 111 high school students from the last two grades. The method used in our research was the questionnaire. The built tool was based on BKQ (Biotechnology Knowledge Questionnaire) (Prokop et al., 2007) and BAQ (Biotechnology Attitudes Questionnaire) (Erdogan et al., 2009). From the analysis of the results, the following conclusions emerged: (1). More than 50% of students have misconceptions about genetically modified organisms, and approximately 60% of students do not agree with the commercialization of products that use genetically modified materials. (2) There are differences regarding knowledge and attitudes related to biotechnologies, depending on gender, age, profile, specialization; (3). There is a positive correlation between high school students' knowledge and attitudes towards biotechnology.