Adherence to international anatomical terminology by a government-implemented high school biology science education Curriculum

Chilean science education curriculum is standardized and issued by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). This study contributes to science education analyzing a government implemented high school biology curriculum and its adherence to the Federative International Programme for Anatomical Terminology (FIPAT). The purpose of this study was to assess the use of International anatomical terminology (IAT) in Chilean national biology education programs. The sample consisted of biology programs for 9th to 12th grades obtained from the MINEDUC website, in force since 2009. An analysis of terms used in MINEDUC high school programs (9th to 12th grade) was carried out. Terms were identified using Atlas.ti text analysis software. Subsequently, the identified terms were tabulated as follows: frequency, Latin term, Spanish translation, use of the term according to FIPAT and type of error. Our results showed that 11.43 % of the terminology used in the high school biology curriculum did not adhere to the IAT in FIPAT. 11th grade’s biology education curriculum showed the highest use of FIPAT terminology and also the same grade showed the highest prevalence of misused terms. These results can serve as an important basic resource for the revision and standardization of terminology used in biomedical fields. Collaboration between anatomists, biologists and high school teachers is a requirement necessary to make changes in the curricula in order to improve the use of IAT in teacher training and in Biology and Natural sciences classes.