TEACHING GENETICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: DEVELOPING STUDENTS' RESEARCH ACTIVITIES THROUGH SYSTEMS THINKING AND MODERN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

This article examines current challenges in teaching genetics in higher education and their potential relationship with students’ interest in research activities. The study aims to identify didactic shortcomings in genetics instruction and to substantiate approaches to promoting students’ research engagement through systems thinking and modern educational technologies. A theoretical and empirical approach was adopted, incorporating an analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, regulatory documents, and survey findings from students at several higher education institutions in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The analysis identified four major shortcomings in genetics education: fragmentation of genetic knowledge, limitations of conventional knowledge-oriented instructional approaches, insufficient integration of genetics with general professional and specialized disciplines, and inadequate development of cognitive processes required for constructing coherent genetic knowledge and fostering creative thinking. According to the reported survey results, interest in participating in research activities accounted for 7.9% of students’ extracurricular activity preferences, ranking sixth. These findings indicate that research activities may have limited appeal as an extracurricular option among the surveyed students. However, the available data do not establish a causal relationship between the identified instructional shortcomings and students’ research engagement. In response, the article proposes a conceptual integrative model combining systems thinking and interdisciplinary integration, modern educational technologies, and research-oriented learning tasks. The model provides a theoretical framework for integrating research activities into genetics instruction and requires subsequent empirical validation.