Students have the opportunity to read through a bioethical scenario related to biotechnology, then answer a few discussion questions related to the reading  I have students read one scenario on their own and highlight the FIVE most important ¨facts¨ of that scenario (I tell students there isn´t a wrong answer, they can highlight which ever pieces they feel are the most important from the reading- this allows different viewpoints to be demonstrated when they do the next part)  Then students get into a small group with others that read the same scenario.  They first discuss which items they each highlighted and what they thought about the article.  Next I hand out the discussion questions related to their reading passage and have the students answer the questions as a group.    For the last part of the discussion, I have students regroup so that each new group has ONE person from eaching reading passage.  Students share out a quick summary of their passage and then ask the new group if they think biotechnology should continue related to the information in the article.  If time permits, we have a whole class discussion about the ethics behind biotechnology and the different examples demonstrated in the reading passages.  

Students research and construct an oral debate about a topic related to Genetically Modified Organisms.

Students will read and evaluate different perspectives related to the Green Revolution and analyze how different perspectives can shape the public´s perception of agriculture and biotechnology.  Students read different articles written about the Green Revolution and answer questions to encourage them to interpret the meaning behind each article.  I use small and large group discussions after students read the articles to also stimuate discussion in my classroom about perceptions of the public.  You can extend this activity by having students conduct surveys or additional reseach about more recent topics related to biotechnology and find other articles that showcase different sides of an issue.  

Students look at how the public is perceiving the topic of biotechnology by first reading through an article of a survery conducted in Europe.  Then they create their own survey and must analyze the public perception of biotechnology in their own community.  The final product will be a poster that graphically demonstrates the data from their survey, which students present to the class.

Teacher´s version of the Learn.Genetics website. Includes teaching modules and curriculum modules on various topics related to genetics and cell biology. Modules contain lesson plans, student objectives and handouts/instructions to assist the teacher with presenting the materials to students.