There was recently a study to see if DNA had any correlation to the level of education attained by an individual. They studied a group of 125,000 individuals, where most studies in the past on this topic had used less than 10,000 people. These people came from different countries, meaning that an international standard for academic attainment was necessary to use. The study analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms. In other studies, it was determined that the SNP with the greatest effect on height accounted for a .4% variation in humans. Their data showed that the the SNP had only a .02% effect on educational attainment. This shows that it is much more dependent upon other factors than DNA how far one goes into their education. The scientists said that this was just the beginning of the research into how other factors effect educational attainment.
NOS Themes:
Collaboration- large group of scientists from universities around the world
Curiosity- people want to know if they are "destined" to go far in life
Genes may determine how well someone does in school, but someone's environment and upbringing greatly influences how far in education someone goes. Genes also affect someone's memory which affects someone's ability to retain knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThis just shows the classic argument of nature versus nurture. Also by using people from many different countries their results could have been skewed by not everyone teaching the same material the same way, even with an international standard.
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