This research investigates the knowledge that High School students have on transgenics and their opinions on the application and implications of this type of biotechnology. Questionnaires were given to one hundred final year High School students in three government schools in the northwestern region of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Answers were grouped according to the students' knowledge of the subject so that quantitative and qualitative data analysis could be carried out. Data analysis showed that all students had already been informed on transgenics, by news from the social media or learned in the classroom. The social media highly affects the way students reported the questions, particularly with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of transgenics. Current research reveals that the teaching and development of biological studies contribute only slightly towards a different concept from that acquired in extra school situations.
Biotechnology; Transgenics; Education