Human Genetics, Birth Defects, and Values: A Review of Audiovisuals

Abstract

D URING THE PAST YEAR, we have reviewed more than twenty of the films, filmstrips, slide sets, and tapes presently on the market on the subjects of human genetics, human genetic diseases, and birth defects. These reviews were one aspect of the needs assessment studies in human genetics education conducted in 1976 and 1977 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study under a grant from the National Foundation/March of Dimes. The twenty programs we reviewed were selected from an original list of approximately sixty audiovisual units on genetics and human biology. The materials were collected for review on the basis of information obtained from brochures and publisher's descriptions and advertisements (often vague and of little value). Each of us initially prepared a review of the material independently of the other two members of the committee; but we all used the same criteria. We considered several factors that can influence the efficacy of an audiovisual presentation, including the accuracy of the content; the sensitivity and honesty employed in dealing with ethical and moral issues; the extent of repetition within a series; the pedagogical design of the presentation (from straight factual information to questioning and inquiry approaches); the availability and completeness of teachers' guides (including descriptions of vocabulary requirements); and the availability of preand posttests. We also considered the technical quality of the music, narration, and visuals because such characteristics can determine whether a program will attract and hold student interest. Though all of us teach elementary human genetics in the beginning biology courses, and two of us teach the advanced genetics course for biology majors, and despite the fact that all of us have participated in the development and evaluation of curriculum materials for schools, we often disagreed about which of the reviewed materials could finally be considered the best. Such disagreements were undoubtedly the result of our different teaching interests and our preferences for different kinds of instructional resources. For this reason, we suggest that life science teachers planning to use these materials in their classes carefully preview the films, slide sets, or filmstrips before showing or purchasing them. The short reviews included in this article cover only those materials that were rated from fair to excellent or those materials on which we disagreed. Materials rated fair to very poor by all of us have been excluded, except when they were a part of a series.