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Introduction
Have you ever wondered what your children will look like or what kind of life they will have? Have you ever wondered if they will be completely healthy? It is 10-15 years from now, you are married and just had your first child. The doctor has just informed you that your child has a genetic disorder. It is not uncommon- about 600 babies are born each day with some type of genetic disorder.
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Task
As a class, we have studied the basic concepts of genetics. Next, we will focus on the different genetic disorders that affect children around the world. We will focus on how children get the disorder, what their karyotype looks like, how it affects the body, and what their quality of life would be like. The class will be divided into groups of three, with each person being assigned a different role. Once you discover all that there is to know about your genetic disorder, you will have to decide among your partners whether you feel that couples who are looking into having a child should be able to look at their genetic code for any problems. You and your team need to decide if a family-to-be should be able to pre-screen what their child’s genetic make-up will be, to check for any genetic diseases. In the end, your group will be responsible for creating a presentation trying to education your audience about the disorder you have researched and to convince them whether prenatal genetic testing is necessary for any unborn children who could potentially inherit the disorder. Currently the government is moving toward the idea of making prenatal testing illegal.
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Resources
Choose one disorder from the list below. Only one disorder per class is allowed, so once you have made your decision, sign up with the teacher. This is a first-come, first-serve basis...SO CHOOSE QUICKLY so your disorder isn't taken by another group!!
1.) Cystic Fibrosis 2.) Huntington's Disease 3.) Achondroplasia (dwarfism) 4.) Down's Syndrome (Trisomy 21) 5.) Sickle-Cell Anemia 6.) Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy 7.) Xeroderma Pigmentosum 8.) Albinism 9.) Turner Syndrome 10. ) Hemophilia Type A
Websites to help research your disorder:
Websites to help research genetic testing:
Feel free to search for more information on the internet...but remember NOT TO USE WIKIPEDIA!!!
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Process
Step 1 - What do you know? To begin, your group will need to make a list of what they already know about the genetic disorder. With your group you should answer the following questions: · What do you already know about genetic disorders in general? · What do you know about the disorder that you have chosen? · What do you want to find out about this disease? · Do you know of any one, friends or family, who is affected by this disorder? Take time to answer these questions, it will help your team in finding the best information out about the disease.
Step 2 - Assign roles and begin research! Your group should include 3 students total. Each of you will pick a role to take on, choose from: a genetic counselor, disorder specialist, or parent whose child will have the disorder. 1. Genetic Counselor - Your role as the genetic counselor is to find out what types of treatment there are for the disorder and how you can advise these parents on the disorder that their child has. Also, find out how the child inherited the disease. Is it dominant, recessive, sex-linked, etc? 2. Disorder Specialist - Your role as the disorder specialist is to karyotype the disorder, find out all of the signs and symptoms of the disorder, including a detailed description of how it affects the human body. Also, find out what different tests could have been provided to the parent to have found out about this disorder before its birth. 3. Parent - Your role as the parent is to find out what kind of lifestyle your child will have with this disorder. Find out how long your child will live, if they will be able to have children of their own, and if their children will be affected. If you were to have more children, is it possible that another child will be affected by the same disorder?
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Assessment This project is worth two grades: individual and group. The individual grade is worth 30 points and will be based on a journal kept throughout this entire project. You will write a journal entry every day that includes the following information:
The group grade will be worth 50 points. The rubric below explains how you will be graded.
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Conclusion
You and your group now have a better understanding of what genetic disorders are and how they affect the human race. Each of you used a different role to look at the same disease from a different point of view. This was important to help you realize the different opinions the different roles have of the disorder. You also researched the big prenatal genetic testing debate. You saw how there are pros and cons to this type of genetic testing. Hopefully this helped you to understand why there is such a huge debate in our government on this topic.
Please answer these questions in your final journal entry!
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Created by Kristi Sterling for Riverside Brookfield High School.
Questions or Comments? Email ksterling@rbhs208.org
This webquest was modified from: http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/molshan/web.htm & http://ghall.public.iastate.edu/302/resources.htm
