ABSTRACT

Biology education often focuses on adult forms when describing structure, function, physiology, adaptations, heredity and more. Students often think that the features of adult organisms are determined by genes, while they find difficult to understand how evolutionary transformations can occur. However, the features of all adult body parts are the outcome of complex developmental processes, and they also evolve through complex evolutionary processes. Based on contemporary research in biology, we know that genomes are resources for the development of an organism; they do not strictly determine anything, but only provide the plan for development through a series of complex intra- and inter-cellular interactions. In addition, evolutionary change can be the outcome of changes in development that produce variation; minor changes in developmental processes can produce large morphological and biochemical changes that can be passed on across generations. Therefore, teaching genetics and evolution from a developmental perspective can provide valuable tools for explicitly addressing students’ misconceptions. Therefore, the teaching and learning of development should occupy a central place in biology education, but this is not often the case. In this chapter, we argue that teaching about biological development is necessary not only for providing students with a current view of the research in genetics and evolution, but also because it might support effective teaching about the related phenomena.