Science and Technology: Catalysts for Change in Society
Marie C. AnstineAdvancements in science and technology have provided the conditions needed for advancements in Western civilization. The world in which we live today is a sum total of those progressions. New discoveries in the fields of nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence have placed us on the cusp of another monumental change in society which our students will experience within their lifetimes. Whether they will be able to profit from this new-found knowledge or be left by the way-side depends upon their understanding of how science and technology work, how these fields affect their lives, and how they can use them to their advantage. Science is the driving force behind the technology of our day. Throughout history, those who understand and are able to use technology have been assigned power that is denied to those who do not understand.
The goal of this unit is to provide a yearlong framework within which a team of 8th grade teachers will teach their respective curricula. The key concept of "science and technology as the impetus for change in society" serves as the theme that focuses and integrates the students' learning across the disciplines. This is a concept-based curriculum unit rather than a thematic unit. This allows the teachers to teach those standards and benchmarks which they are obligated to teach, while also allowing the students to recognize patterns and make connections across the various content areas.
Background information about the development of science and technology in Western civilizations provides the teachers with a common knowledge base. Some sample lesson plans for the language arts teacher are included, and some suggested essential questions (in lieu of objectives) are also included for the reading, social studies, science, and math teachers.
This curriculum is designed for a life science class of sixth graders at L. B. J. Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The unit will be presented in the first semester. The unit will cover approximately six to seven weeks. In addition to using the student text book on life science, supplemental information will be gained from other sources via teacher recommendation and appropriate internet sites.
The unit will span the areas of technology and its role in science, cells, cell processes, viruses, vaccines, tissues, organs, mitosis, meiosis, mutations, genes and alleles, heredity, genetic engineering and case studies on genetic engineering, and cloning. Ethical issues will be discussed, as well as positive and negative effects science and technology have on the world in which we currently live. This unit may be viewed as interdisciplinary incorporating Language Arts (vocabulary and definitions), math (statistics of heredity inheritance), and technology (use of tools in science, computer inquiries on the internet, the use of new technologies to gain knowledge), to include the study of life science.
Interview With the Golem: Science as a Language
Jason GoldbergThis curriculum unit uses literacy as a metaphor for science as a language. Scientists and journalists write and speak about science. The public reads about science, watches it on television and hears about it on the radio. Vocabulary and lack of understanding separate the two groups. The historical rift between scientists and non-scientists remains wide in spite of the efforts on both sides to meet halfway. By reflecting on what science is, who scientists are and what they do, science as a second language becomes something desirable, even life-saving.
The scientist communicates through the media and in academic journals. The media depends on the scientist to be the expert, but expertise is not always a cut and dried position. Then, the media present stories that are sensational or manipulative at worst, and misrepresenting and confusing at best. In a crisis situation, the public needs to rely on an expert to make decisions. Few writers use language to describe the relationships between science and society. Continued alienation proves a need for addressing these connections as well. The reader in this equation reaches for meaning.
HIV/AIDS provides an example of controversial science where the public, the scientists and the media are using language to know science and to know about science. Activists self-educate to guarantee themselves a place at the table with doctors. The public turns to sources to manage the health crisis. Teachers educate the public, of which children are a part, only to meet with resistance. A perspective of science as a language makes literacy in the language a weapon against a killer disease. Literacy exists within racial, social and economic frameworks. Interestingly, all scientific controversies do.
This unit is designed for eleventh and twelfth grade Biology and Chemistry students. The main goal of this unit is to offer a concise, hands-on, multi-media curricula on human genetics, including history of important discoveries, biology and ethics. The history of the field is the starting point of the unit. The lesson plans are designed for the student to step back in time and interpret and infer through the recreation of former experiments. The students will move from history to a complete biological and chemical understanding of human genetics. Through various experiments and activities, students will learn about cell physiology and genetic influence. In the third and final part of the unit, students will examine ethical and social issues that continue to arise from this field. The latter topic will address: The Human Genome Project, DNA fingerprinting, genetic discrimination in the workplace, genetic discrimination in insurance, genetic counseling, and cloning. A great deal of emphasis is placed on reaching mutli-intelligences through various activities, and labs that places the student in the role of the scientist. This unit will require about six weeks for labs, research, and presentations
Why Study the Sky?
A Supplement to the Study of Astronomy
Steven P. KaestnerThe narrative and lesson plans in this unit are designed to supplement an existing astronomy curriculum for an eighth grade special education gifted Earth Science class at Jefferson Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This unit’s narrative primarily has a historical focus as it looks at ancient astronomers and things that have been influenced or affected by astronomy. The topics include astrology, a detailed discussion of time measurement (AM/PM, origin of the days of the week, months, and the workings and evolution of various world calendars), brief highlights of the astronomy of some ancient cultures, the work and beliefs of eight important early astronomers (from Aristotle to Newton), Earth impacts, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Most of these topics are usually not found, or not found in sufficient depth, in middle school science textbooks. I hope that interspersing information of human and historical interest into my existing curriculum will help make the study of astronomy more interesting, challenging, relevant, and appropriate for my gifted students.
Although this unit’s lessons are meant for eighth grade gifted science students, many could be easily modified for other groups. Some of the lessons involve lectures and discussions of the narrative’s material (which high school teachers may find of use). Other lessons include research, debates, critical thinking, creative problem solving, high interest reading, and relevant video material. This unit includes a teacher resource section.
This unit, designed for 7th and 8th grade students in an Introduction to Computers class and in Computer Graphics, will address issues of technical literacy, beyond just "What button do I push?" It will also address issues of creativity, ethics, and the legitimacy of electronically created graphic art. Both classes will explore the history of the computer revolution from early counting machines to the predicted "smarter than human beings" computers that may be headed our way, as well as take a basic look at the electronics that make computers work.
We will also explore Boolean expressions in the context of web searches and in terms of the "and," "or," and "not" logic gates which allow computers to use ones and zeros to solve complicated logical and mathematical problems. Many Ethical issues that will be discussed: the trustworthiness of photographs, plagiarism, the validity of electronically created art as fine art, and the possibility of electronic artists and teachers.
Genetically Modified Crops: Greed or Need?
MaryAnn LeeThe controversial subject of bioengineered crops raises many hopes and fears for the future of humanity. World population is close to six billion and is expected to double within 50 years. Biotechnology has made it possible to engineer crop seed for increased yield and nutrition, tolerance to drought and salt water, and resistance to herbicides, pests and disease. However, along with the benefits of genetically modified (GM) seed, are the risks. These can be classified as environmental risks with socio-economic implications. Opponents of this powerful technology fear a loss of biodiversity as growers become reliant on a single, successful crop variety. Pollen from GM crops may drift with the wind or be transmitted to non-target crops via flying insects. Other concerns include unintentional harm to other organisms (e.g., Monarch butterfly larvae) or food allergies in humans (e.g., Starlink GM corn). Social concerns include the privatization and dominance of agricultural research that has traditionally been publicly available, often to developing nations. Unethical marketing strategies will also be examined as part of this curriculum unit aimed at gifted high school students.
DNA Fingerprinting and Ethics
Patrick McCachrenThe curriculum unit starts with an historical background. Although many scientists and researchers have worked on genetics, I have chosen to focus on the work of four scientists: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and Alec Jeffrey. Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist, took the first x-ray photographs of two forms of DNA. Franklin’s photographs of DNA were a "dry" or crystalline form and a "wet" form. Franklin’s photographs were used by two other scientists from the University of Cambridge. James Watson and Francis Crick used the Franklin photos which helped them discovers the double helix shape of the DNA molecule. They used the double helix shape to build the first model of the DNA molecule. Alec Jeffrey, a geneticist at the University of Leicester in England, was working on a genetic peculiarity in DNA called "introns" . Jeffrey used the process of "gel electrophoresis" to separate and photograph bits of DNA using a positive and negative electric charge. These photographs of DNA have led to the process of "DNA fingerprinting" which can identify any person with great accuracy.
The curriculum unit and implementation will address the areas of history, database, process, privacy, and the controversy around the world on the use and security of the large database systems used to store the genetic information of many individuals. People’s concerns regarding the use of an individual’s genetic information: include who will have access to the information, what will the information be used for, and will the genetic information be kept in the database permanently. There are executive orders signed by President Clinton on February 8, 2000, prohibiting every federal department and agency from using genetic information in any hiring or promotion action. The private database systems used by many different laboratories claim to have their own security and privacy rules in place. This is also in debate. The main question with genetic information is who owns the information, private individuals or the laboratories? Students will be presented with situations such as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad settlement with its employees for allegedly coercing them to give blood samples for genetic testing. Another case involves the country of Iceland and its genetic database. Icelanders are accusing their government of taking huge payments from Decode Genetics, a private company that was licensed to create a genetic database of the country’s entire population.
Student implementation will include basics on DNA structure and model building. Students will be reading and reporting on Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and Francis Crick, and Alec Jeffrey. Students will need to know the step by step process of gel electrophoresis. Students will be presented with ethical situations involving genetics, database systems, and privacy regarding their own genetic information.
The current technologies being developed in computer science are enabling us to move into a new space - cyberspace. It is a new domain in which we have true being. But what is this new state of being going to be like? It depends on whom you asked. The optimists tend to see cyberspace, or the "Net," as the vehicle for realizing the higher values or ideals of humanity: an increase in personal freedom, a more protected privacy, communities of individuals based on common interests, and the opportunity for a personalized universe. The pessimists view the internet, cyberspace, and virtual reality in particular, as very real threats to what it means to be human: to live in communities of diversity, to experience and appreciate the physical environment, to feel connected to others and take an active role in improving the lives of all people.
All can agree that recent developments in our technologies, made directly possible because of the computer, have changed us. What they do not agree on is how we are changing. We must add another dimension to our conception of space, and in turn this affects our notion of time. The argument has been made, and presented in this unit, that Boolean logic, hypertext and computerized graphic outliners are fundamentally altering the very way in which we think. This in turn is altering our relationship to knowledge and how we perceive ourselves.
What we should keep in mind, as we move through the digital age and into the virtual age, is that "what we make in turn makes us." We need to understand the benefits and the dangers present in our most recent and exciting technology—the simulated environment of virtual reality. Perhaps its promises are as great as is the potential for creating mass suffering. In either case, it is up to us to critically evaluate ourselves and to realize that our tool is a manifestation of what already exists in us. To change our tools, of which the computer is one, we must first change ourselves.
Genetics and the Genome of Diseases
Peter Kelly ReedThis curriculum unit is designed to be taught to 9th and 10th grade Biology I students. It covers the basic principles of Mendelian genetics from vocabulary to predicting offspring traits. The unit describes two diseases , Tay-Sachs and Diabetes, and now the information from the Human Genome Project is used towards finding cures for the diseases.
Genes: The Write Stuff:
Integrating Genetics and the Eighth Grade Writing Curriculum
Vickie WarrThis six -week curriculum unit has been designed for use in an eighth grade Language Arts class. It is a study of the basic language and brief history of genetics, and how to use this information as the basis for a non-fiction writing curriculum. An autobiographical incident, a comparison/contrast essay, a persuasive essay, and a problem/solution essay will be analyzed and written using the language, history and some of the ethical considerations of genetics. A sub-unit on bioethics in the classroom provides research and discussion opportunities. Lesson plans are provided in a week-by-week format. They incorporate traditional and non-print texts, web sites, videos and a CD-ROM, and provide for group and individual settings. Objectives are coordinated with state benchmarks and performance standards for English Language Arts. An annotated student reading list is included with the bibliography.
