Volume 42 Number 2, Spring 2008 | JBE 1 Genetic diseases and genetic determinism models in French secondary school biology textbooks The presentation of genetic diseases in French secondary school biology textbooks is analysed to determine the major conceptions taught in the field of human genetics. References to genetic diseases, and the processes by which they are explained (monogeny, polygeny, chromosomal anomaly and environmental influence) are studied in recent French text- books targeted at the four different school levels for students between the ages of 15 and 18. Four different publishers’ textbooks are included per school level. It is found that direct, linear and causal genetic determinism is the interpretative model most often associated with genetic diseases. Nevertheless, environmental influences are more often addressed in recent textbooks than in older ones, and are mainly associated with polygenic models of genetic determinism. The issues surrounding these results are discussed. Introduction Recent research in the ields of genetics and molecular biolo- gy emphasises “the end of genetics-for-everything” (“La fin du tout-génétique”: Atlan, 1999) and the increasing importance of epigenetic processes (Morange, 2005a, 2005b) in the forma- tion of the phenotype. However, for many years the teaching of genetics has been centred solely on the determinism of the phenotype by the genotype. For this purpose simple ex- amples have been chosen which, by minimising the interac- tion among genes or between genes and their environment, risked, albeit inadvertently, promoting a hereditarianist ideol- ogy (Abrougui and Clément, 1997a, 1997b). The methods by which the topic of ‘biological identity’ has been addressed in French textbooks also supported this hereditarianist con- ception (Forissier and Clément, 2003). Taking into account the results of current research, French curricula have recently changed. Therefore, it is an opportune time to analyse the ways in which human genetics is being addressed in the newly published French school textbooks and to assess whether less deterministic concepts are being presented today. For this study we have chosen to analyse examples related to human pathologies. Not only are these examples most of- ten found in school textbooks, but they also systematically provide an opportunity to relect on health education. Fur- thermore, the topic of genetic disease possesses an impor- tant emotional dimension, so much so that in France it is the focus of the Telethon, an annual television event accompa- nied by numerous activities and a fundraising campaign to support genetic disease research. In addition to the critique that the Telethon inspires “false hope” in the public (Séralini, 2003), it may also be criticised for its undeniable effect of strongly associating the idea of genetics with that of disease in the minds of the viewers. Newspapers and magazines often employ dramatic, scientiically questionable, headlines and ti- tles, such as “the fat gene,” “the shyness gene,” “the heredity of intelligence” and “the crime chromosome” (Clément and Forissier, 2001). To just what point are school textbooks in- luenced by such media campaigns? Theoretical background Didactical background The idea of conception is a key element of this study. Giordan and de Vecchi (1987) deined conceptions as “a set of ex- planatory, coordinated ideas and coherent images used by learners when confronted with a problem situation”. From this constructivist perspective, researchers of science didac- tics became interested in the learners’ previously held ideas related to a topic, and whether these previous ideas would al- low or inhibit the acquisition of new knowledge. These previ- ous ideas, more or less organised, more or less coherent, more or less scientiic, are called conceptions in science didactics. More recently, conceptions have been deined as the results of interactions among scientiic knowledge (K), social prac- tices (P) (Martinand, 2000) and values (V). As illustrated in Figure 1, any conception can be analysed, and will be ana- lysed here, as the interaction among these poles (KVP Model: Clément, 1998; 2004). Several research projects have analysed students’ concep- tions of genetics since Rumelhard (1986). Some among them (Abrougui, 1997; Abrougui and Clément, 1997a, 1997b) ex- amined French and Tunisian school textbooks and serve as references for the current work. A textbook which only cites examples of monogenic diseases (i.e. genetic disease caused by a single mutant gene) inadvertently conveys the message of an implicit hereditarianism which could be used to jus- tify a certain fatalism with regard to social practices. Pointing out this possible implicit ideology does not mean that we deny the importance of genetic inluence on disease which, in some cases, can be clearly direct (e.g. Duchenne muscular dystrophy). Jérémy Castéra, Catherine Bruguière and Pierre Clément Université de Lyon and Université Lyon 1, France Educational Research Genetic diseases | Castéra et al