The Cognitive Ability And Students' Perceptions in Genetics Course

Abstract

The rapid advances in Genetics in the last ten years have driven the need to master the basic concepts of Genetics, especially for the Department of Biology Education students. Proficiency of this concept is closely related to cognitive abilities and students' perceptions of the Genetics course. This study aims to determine students' cognitive abilities and perceptions of the genetics course. This study used a quantitative descriptive method with subjects of 96 students from the Department of Biology who enrolled in the Genetics course in the even semesters of the 2020/2021 academic year. The instrument used is a cognitive ability test and a questionnaire of student perceptions of the Genetics course. The student's cognitive ability test showed an average score of 63.2, with the highest score of 95.0 and the lowest is 24.7. The cognitive ability test showed that the topic of the Genetics course with the lowest average score was extensions of Mendelism. Student perceptions of the Genetics course demonstrated that this course is one of the most challenging subjects in biology. Students stated that Genetics course material tends to be abstract, and learning resources are challenging to be understood.