Learning Genetics in Higher Education in Remote Context: Conceptual Gaps, Affective-Metacognitive Profiles, and Contextual Barriers

Abstract

Genetics learning in higher education has historically been marked by persistent conceptual misconceptions, a scenario worsened by the abrupt transition to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated conceptual gaps, affective-metacognitive profiles, and pedagogical barriers experienced by 24 pre-service Biology teachers from a public university in Northeastern Brazil throughout an eight-week instructional sequence conducted entirely in emergency remote teaching (2020.2 semester). Data were collected through weekly reflective learning journals, analyzed via thematic content analysis, and a conceptual questionnaire with five open-ended items, subjected to content analysis and descriptive statistics per item. Data integration was performed using joint displays. Results reveal that concepts such as gene, allele, and meiosis were correctly understood by a significant portion of the class, whereas intergenerational inheritance, gamete production, and genetic probability evidenced recurrent structural misconceptions, particularly confusion between crossing-over and Mendelian inheritance. The journals enabled the identification of three distinct affective-metacognitive profiles: autonomous engagement, activating anxiety, and technological disconnection. A counterintuitive finding emerged from triangulation: students with the highest conceptual performance were simultaneously those with the highest frequency of negative affective records, suggesting that anxiety, when accompanied by active monitoring strategies, may function as a component of deep cognitive engagement. Recorded classes, a remote experiment with flies, and thematic seminars were the most valued instructional strategies. The findings provide evidence for the design of instructional sequences that explicitly integrate metacognitive support and emotional mediation in remote and hybrid teaching contexts.