Ideas for Making Genetics Pop

[Greg Sperry]

My name is Greg Sperry and I’m an education student working on designing a Genetics unit for a 10th grade high school science class. Genetics can often be one of the most difficult areas in biology for students to understand; as a result it can be difficult to teach. I want to teach this unit in a way that will actively engage my students in what they are learning. Also, I need to incorporate reading and writing techniques into this unit, so I’m looking for any interesting ideas you might have.

I want my students to have understanding of the key principles and processes that are involved in genetics. More importantly I want my students to know why it is important that they have an understanding of genetics and how this will affect them make decisions in their lives. I need ideas on how to make this material fun and relevant to my students’ lives. Also, if anyone has any ideas on some assessments/projects that I could use in this unit I would appreciate those too. Please share any ideas you might have or things that you have done in your classroom.

[Ryan Goble]

Hey Greg,

So as I mentioned - make sure you look at the comic science posts

COMICS: Yes, More Comic Science
Comic Science - That has the incredible South Africa Genetics comics.

The posts about Napoleon's genetics unit:
#1. TEACHING: SCIENCE, ART OR CRAFT?
#2. LITERACY, SCIENCE & THE 4Ss
#3. VIEWING STRATEGIES: A CASE STUDY

And of course, the websites I was using when I was working with Napoleon

COMICS:
http://www.pub.ac.za/resources/animations.php http://www.pub.ac.za/resources/docs/cartoon_gm_crops.pdf

GENETIC SCREENING:
https://www.23andme.com/

THIS SITE BELOW IS A+
https://www.23andme.com/gen101/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/us/11dna.html
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/121/are-there-holes-in-my-genes...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0302/01.html http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/218577/febru...
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-03/st_kia
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-03/st_kia

HUMAN CLONING
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/april02/bush-cloning_4-10.html
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6850394_ITM
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/crsdocuments/RS215...

STEM CELL RESEARCH
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/02/62254 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5252449 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16343705 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/overviews/3209_04_nsn.html http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/09/obama.stem.cells/index.html

ANIMAL & PLANT CLONING
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/03/17/the_new_science_of_fo... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG8Y-_p8XSg http://bestfriendsagain.com/ (CREEPY VIDEO HERE) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6272448 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/garden/01clones.html?scp=1&sq...
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/10/60794
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgd1ei6QqS2C2LcEyOZ4YpuR0rYg
http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/dual-perspectives/2009/02/23...
http://www.thislife.org/TV_Episode.aspx?episode=1

6th DAY
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stephen_nottingham/cintxt6...

RANDOM GENETICS
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6956
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/stemcells/video.html
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.cell.lp_speci...
http://www.isscr.org/public/movies.htm
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/212035/decem...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5220119
http://bestfriendsagain.com/news/videos.php?movie=welcome&title...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5534297
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/watch/goodfood/
http://www.encyclomedia.com/video-dolly_the_sheep.html
http://www.springer.com/life+sci/darwin+year+2009?SGWID=0-167002-0-0-0
http://www.dnalc.org/west/
http://www.offthemark.com/search-results/key/dna/

[Pam Goble]

Hey Greg,
I am forwarding you Ryan's brother in-law/my son-in-law's e-mail who is a neurogeneticist at Cornell. I am sure that he would be able to help you with some very interesting ideas regarding genetics. Ryan is great with the mash of ideas once you get the subject matter down...and Dr. D does the research in that field. Maybe some more steps to your LP.
[e-mail]
Dr. Dustin Rubinstein
Pam Goble

[Greg Sperry]

Pam

Thanks for your help, I'll try to send him an email here shortly.

Greg