Genetic Disease Symposium

How might genetic testing impact and transform the nature of athletic sports? After reading a New York Times article on genetic testing for children to determine athletic ability, class members are broken into groups and take on the...

Complete a variety of activities to examine the pros and cons and ethical issues behind genetic testing. Your high school students will role play and examine various scenarios to determine if genetic testing is justified.

Human biology or genetics learners apply their knowledge to a unique situation: two newborn baby girls being possibly switched in the hospital. The engaging activity ends with a Punnett squares assignment in which pupils evaluate whether...

Harness young scientists' knowledge of genetics with an engaging science activity. Students start by flipping a coin to determine the genotypes and phenotypes of two parent monsters, before using Punnett squares to determine the...

The highlight of this lesson plan is a 53-minute investigative video, Can Science Stop Crime?" The question asked is whether or not aggressive behavior is caused by genetic factors. The answer has to do with genetic complexity, the...

Disease prevention or designer babies? Use a set of slides to introduce the growing practice of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. Teens read related articles and then break into groups to address different scenarios. Afterward,...

Can we find the phenotypes and genotypes of magical ability for the characters in Harry Potter? Of course, but first we need to understand incomplete or blended dominance, co-dominance, multiple alleles, and regulatory genes. This...

Young scientists explore Gregor Mendel's work on pea plants, his laws of segregation and independent assortment. They work through genetic problems and then finish by looking at Huntington's disease and genetic testing. 

Students join together science and art to create diagrams of simple machines. They assess the importance of a wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, lever and screw into a drawing in art. Each student then joins this lesson with a...

In this genetic ethics worksheet, students are given ten ethical questions regarding genetic defects, the possibility of gene therapy, test tube babies and creating a national DNA database. Students are given three choices for each...