11 July 2013 Teaching the commercial significance of science

Lincoln University’s Associate Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics, Jon Hickford, will speak at the Biolive 2013 conference next week on how biology, and, more specifically, genetics, can be successfully taught in schools with real-world, commercially relevant examples. He will do this by sharing cases of research and development conducted at Lincoln University in DNA typing technologies.

DNA typing technologies allow farmers to select superior livestock for breeding, including those that have more meat on their bones; which is known in the industry as a higher lean meat yield. This makes them more valuable for breeding commercially as meat producers.

One particular typing technology developed at the University looks for a beneficial variation in the myostatin gene; a key regulator of muscle growth.

“In the case of lambs, we can use the technology to increase the lean meat yield of lamb carcasses. Customers don’t eat bone and don’t want fat, so leaner meat means more value,” says Jon Hickford.

“If you consider that boneless lamb retails for around $20 per kilogram, then, assuming we can get the genetics right, even a 1% increase in lean meat yield across 20 million lambs produced each year in New Zealand equates to around $36 million in increased value. In itself, this is an excellent example of the commercial relevance of science in the New Zealand landscape.”

However, Jon Hickford also believes that this material can be well aligned to the teaching requirements of secondary school biology; particularly as the achievement standards are changing relative to the new curriculum.

“I’m hoping to show with my presentation at the Biolive conference how our research in DNA typing technologies can be used to aid student learning and comprehension of genetics by giving them a real-world framework to work off. That is, we can help teach a detailed understanding of genetic systems by giving it meaningful New Zealand context,” says Hickford.

“Likewise, the examples of Lincoln University’s research and development in livestock genetics can be directly used in student assessments where, for instance, they need to demonstrate an understanding of the effects of genetic variation.”

Run by the Biology Educator’s Association of New Zealand, the Biolive conference is a biennial event for primary, secondary and tertiary level educators in biological science.