Preservice science teachers’ opinions and ethical perceptions in relation to cloning studies

Abstract

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Cloning is a reproductive method that raises many important ethical questions. As our future science teachers, preservice science teachers will experience with cloning technologies in their lessons and also part of the society, many of them may become decision makers related these issues. Therefore preservice science teachers need have scientific literacy about cloning studies and also they need to be able to evaluate critically the potential benefits, risks and ethical implications of these technologies. Considering the importance of these issues, the aim of this study is to find preservice science teachers’ ethical peceptions and knowledge in relation to the application of cloning technologies. 112 preservice science teachers attended to this study, their perceptions and knowledge were assessed using dilemmas and questions. It was found that most of the preservice science teachers get their knowledge on cloning technology from informal resources, their knowledge were found limited and they found cloning as risky. In addition, their opinions and reasons related to the dilemmas were differentiated.