Readings for Genetics, DNA and Heredity

Hi all,

I'm working with a teacher who is planning a semester on genetics, DNA and heredity for a pre-HSE level class. We have some lesson plans (could always use more), but we're looking for a good book to pair with the lesson plans. During the summer session, she read Giants of Science: Charles Darwin, by Kathleen Krull with her class, while teaching a unit on evolution: the history of life on Earth, the journey of the Beagle, population growth, carrying capacity, natural selection and adaptation. It was clear that reading the young adult book really helped support students' understanding of the subject matter. For example, when they did an activity this week on finch beaks, they had already read about Darwin's journey and watched a video about Peter and Rosemary Grant, who have done sustained research on finches in the Galapagos, so the students were able to put this activity in context of what they were reading about and understand that this differences in measurement of beak size were connected to advantages gained in times of drought, leading to evolution in a human timescale, etc.

We would like to do something similar, if possible, with genetics and heredity. I know some teachers who have read the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks with their classes, but this feels too advanced for this class. A young adult book would be best. Maybe on Mendel, though this wouldn't help us with DNA, chromosomes, etc. since he didn't know about this stuff. A book on Rosalind Franklin, who photographed DNA and got no credit for helping Watson and Crick? Does anyone have ideas for a book we could use, maybe not about a scientist, but about twins or family history or...?

If we can't find a good book, maybe we'll put together some readings in a packet (articles about researching ancestry through mitochondrial DNA or interesting stories of twins like the Mixed Up Brothers of Bogota). Suggestions of readings would be appreciated as well.

Eric

Comments

Hello Eric- I appreciate your information on the books: Giants of Science, and have ordered one to determine if it would fit our course well this coming term.  

I have been teaching Science for the GED for quite a while now and have always striven to bring well known current news topics into my classes. The last two times I have taught about genetics, I used a book from the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) bookstore, and a particular chapter, as the theme of our term. The name of the book is Garden Genetics: Teaching with Edible Plants.  Chapter Seven is called sweet genes in corn. The first part discusses the nutritional value in corn. We read that then do lessons on photosynthesis, learn about chemical structures (of sugars) but also in general, do a little nutrition lesson as well. The main lesson is about genetically modified organisms. (GMO's) and which ones are sweetest and why. We do general genetics lessons with coin flipping for punnett squares and "build a baby" for understanding of gene combination. Plus a lot more, but the culminating activities, we focus on what GMO means (read positive and negative) articles about it, have some good response writes about it, and do the culminating experiment from Chapter 7 to determine which variety of corn germinates better based on its type of starch reserves. The students stay very engaged because they have all heard about how horrible GMO's are and want to form their own opinion.   Sorry I don't have a young adult book to recommend though. 

Lori

Lori,

This is great information! Thanks so much. I like the idea of connecting to nutrition, safety and current topics. I was just hearing this morning that a new transatlantic free trade agreement probably won't happen, in part because of European fears on lack of regulation in the US. There are a lot of layers for students to understand all this, but some of it could start with an understanding of what GMO means at a basic level.

I have gotten some good feedback in different channels on what some of the source material could be for an HSE genetics/heredity curriculum. Here's a link to an editable Google Doc with the materials (fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, etc.) I've gotten so far. Please add your own ideas.

I'm also reading the The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee, who wrote Emperor of All Maladies. I don't think I would use anything more than short excerpts possibly, but it's great for my background knowledge, and includes great anecdotes about Darwin, Mendel, Malthus, Doppler, etc. Understanding the history of science as connecting stories helps me put this stuff together, and would probably be helpful for students as well. Here's a snippet. Did you know that Mendel went back to school after failing teacher certification exams and Christian Doppler (Doppler effect, Doppler radar, red shift as evidence for the Big Bang) was his teacher? And Doppler proved his theoretical ideas about the dynamics of sound waves by putting a brass band on a train and sending them by a platform full of people?

By the way, are any of you on Twitter? I'm trying to put together a list of #HSEscience teachers, so that we can start connecting and sharing materials in a fluid way. There is some amazing stuff being share in math education and I'm feeling a little left out.

Sincerely,
@eappleton

Eric- The book sounds good. I didn't know about the relationship between Doppler and Mendel! Very cool! I just saw him as a robe clad monk puttering around the garden and playing  with science notes in between copying the old testament in calligraphy.  I added one film resource on your list, the site is also great for current science information and virtual lab activities. Check it out HHMI.org (howard hughes medical institute). 

What would you think about an extenion on the DNA lessons to cover true crimes? Check out Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime and The Bone Detectives: How Forensic Anthropologists Solve Crimes and Uncover Mysteries of the Dead. You might find some wonderful connections that will draw students in. Considering the popularity of true crime shows, these books might be a good hook. Your thoughts? 

 

Kathy,

Thanks for the suggestions. I think that forensics could definitely be a way to make DNA interesting for students. Maybe a true crime excerpt could be paired with a reading about a DNA-based exoneration, so that there is some complexity and possible controversy brought to bear. I found the following article fascinating, especially the relationship between the victim of the crime and the innocent person who spent more than 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Maybe these readings alongside something more like a textbook: DNA Detective, by Tanya Kyi?

There are interesting challenges in teaching genetics/heredity. We need students to understand some of the machinery of DNA (genes, chromosomes) and the functioning of heredity (Punnet square, recessive, dominant), but I think we also want to teach some of the history of science, promote questioning and exploration about how we know what we know, and we need to help students understand current events connected to genetics (GMOs, exoneration, CRISPR). Sounds like a whole semester.

Eric

I just saw this and immediately thought of you and the lessons you are working on.  From a Dan Rather post, "It is a scientific breakthrough (CRISPR - Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a powerful new tool for editing the genes of plants and animals with precision and ease. Now there are huge hopes for CRISPR to treat diseases like cancer and AIDS. However, there is also a vigorous debate about how this technology should be used ethically and safely." Here is a video from his Conversations in Science series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9lVfYwGDiY

 

Thanks, Kathy! What an interesting video.

It's great to hear a female scientist talk about her work. I love Dr. Doudna talking about struggling with chemistry, why do I care? and how important teachers were to helping her find her way. Science is about solving puzzles! Science is fun once you get some success and self-confidence (I'm guessing that's true of most things). I now have a similar definition of CRISPR: It's a technique for rewriting the DNA code of an individual in order to cure disease.

I'm concerned about the potential abuses of this incredible power. I can imagine frivolous ones, like wanting to change eye color (when we figure out how to do it), or more sinister ones (similar to eugenics, for example). What about scientists in countries that don't have reservations about using this power?

"Human beings have been making genetic changes to plants for millennia." - That is technically true, I suppose, since breeding and artificial selection does modify organisms' genes in effect, but that's fairly different from using a protein to surgically cut and replace DNA. Modifying DNA through CRISPR is not technically genetic modification? You have to add/subtract foreign DNA? Seems like the definition needs to be updated.

"Science is outpacing the public's understanding of it." Our students are the public. What would it take for our students to understand this science?

Best,
Eric