Interactions between Digital Resources and Biology Teachers? Conceptions about Genetic Determinism: A Case Study of two Lebanese Teachers

In this study teachers conceptions were analyzed as KVP interactions (K knowledge, V values, P practices) during their documentary work. The persistent follow-up for two successive years of the documentary work of two Lebanese biology teachers, Tania and Maya, allowed the identification of the critical resources and critical situations related to their preparation/teaching practices of genetic determinism of phenotype. The analysis of these critical resources and the output of critical situations according to a specific grid allowed us to infer teachers conceptions about genetic determinism. The results showed that the updated scientific knowledge of Tania (K) due to her constant interactions with updated resources including digital resources, the social practices (P) of her school implementing updated French textbooks illustrating the environmental influence on gene expression in addition to collective and collaborative work among teachers and with the coordinator reinforced her epigenetics conception. While in the case of Maya the interaction with digital resources caused an evolution of her documentary work (P), in addition to an evolution in her scientific knowledge (K) leading to a non-stabilized evolution of her conceptions from hereditarianism to epigenetics. This study has important implications on teachers preparation and training programs.