Closing the Gap: Inverting the Genetics Curriculum to Ensure an Informed Public

Over the past 20 years, the focus of national efforts to improve K-12 science education has ranged from curriculum and professional development of teachers to the adoption of science standards and high-stakes testing. In spite of this work, students in the United States continue to lag behind their peers in other countries. This underperformance is true for genetics, as well as for science and math in general, and is particularly worrisome given the accelerating need for scientists and engineers in our increasingly technology-driven economy. A scientifically literate public is essential if citizens are to engage effectively with policymakers on issues of scientific importance. Perhaps nowhere is this conjunction more personally meaningful than in human genetics and medicine. Rapid changes in our field have the potential to revolutionize healthcare, but the public is ill prepared to participate in this transformation. One potential solution is to modernize the genetics curriculum so that it matches the science of the 21st century. This paper highlights changes in human genetics that support a curricular reorganization, outlines the problems with current genetics instruction, and proposes a new genetics curriculum.