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Handbook of Engaged Learning Projects

HOW DO WE INHERIT OUR BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS?

References

Summary

Student Pages

Index

Title:  How Do We Inherit Our Biological Characteristics
The Task:  Your team has been asked to consult with a family at risk for a genetic condition.  Your investigation should include all of the information that is available and desired by a family so that they can make the decisions that are appropriate to them based on their own cultural, moral and religious beliefs.

This lesson demonstrates ACADEMIC RIGOR with its strong links to the Illinois State Learning Standards and BEST RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN TEACHING with its strong links to Engaged Learning and current brain research and the EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY.

CONTENT:
Individuals, families, health care providers and policymakers face important health care decisions every day. Today, with the growing awareness of the role that genetics plays in our society, decision-making requires more information than ever before. This project uses principles of biology to examine human genetics disorders. Students will work in small groups (2-3) on projects which will give them the opportunity to understand human genetic diseases, collect data from remote sources, and process that data to arrive at conceptual models of how human traits are inherited. Since the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web, provides up-to-the-minute information about our world, it is only natural that this resource be effectively utilized, hence the design of this project.

Students were asked to choose a case study of a human genetic disorder, or write one of their own from their own family history.  Once groups had chosen a human genetic disorder, students had to decide on what information was needed for the family, so that the family could make the decisions that are appropriate to them based on their own cultural, moral, and/or religious beliefs.  Student then gathered the information, using a webpage that was developed for this project.  Their investigation should include medical information important for people with this disease so that they can live a healthy and prolonged life, as well as for the families impacted by this disease. Students used flowcharts, summary tables, or concept maps to organize their information.  Students developed a checklist of questions to analyze the information with, or things to notice or think about. Their final product was to use technology to prepare a presentation for the family.   It was written so that someone else could view the presentation and understand the key points without an accompanying verbal explanation. This might include:
•  pedigree for the family described
•  family members who appear to possibly have the disease
•  a prediction of the chances of their offspring having this disease
•  the ethical and social issues involved in this particular case for the child and the parents.

ASSESSMENT:
Students submitted an online sign-off each day and received formative feedback.  In the process of this investigation, it was useful to periodically take some time to review the status of their work. At any point during their work, there were some things that the students could confidently(?) declare as facts, and there were other things that they could not claim to know without further information. This process of articulating what you know and what you need to know served several purposes, in that it allowed the work of each group to inform others and it helped to keep their own work focused. The Know/Need to Know was revisted weekly during this project.  Students were also evaluated on both their presentation and their contribution by a rubric.

REFLECTION ON TEACHING AND LEARNING
At the time I knew that this was a well-designed lesson, but had no clue on how powerful it really had been.  The students’ level of understanding went much deeper than the superficial understanding that typically results from presentations of facts and memorization. For example, a traditional presentation typically encourages students to memorize the structure of the four DNA nucleotides. For the average student who will not become a biologist, that exercise provides little or no lasting meaning.  The following year, Kris Ceisemeir from the North Central Regional Education Laboratory (NCREL) asked to come in and interview the students about their projects for their “Captured Wisdom CD” that highlights classrooms successfully integrating technology into a standards-based curriculum.  I was amazed at the students’ ability to retain major ideas, long after they left the class.