RATIONALE

REMINDER TO TEACHER: Students should be thinking about this project as you begin the lesson on probability.  This will help them develop connections among probability, genetics and the real world. 

The following Exploration is designed to give the student an opportunity to research in more depth an inheritable diseases.  The student is to put himself or herself  in the position of a doctor preparing information to potential parents who are concerned about their family genetic history.  They wish to make the informed (and  emotional) decision with the doctor's (student's) help.  Each doctor should think about what can be told to the parents with absolute certainty, and what can be told to the couple with uncertainty?   The student is encouraged to interview members of their own family (parents, grandparents, etc...) or a real doctor as the develop an interest in a particular genetic disease.   The student will use his or her learned knowledge of probability and genetics to do an independent research paper.

RESEARCH  OBJECTIVES 

1.  Student will be able to design and conduct an interview with a family member, doctor, or teacher to discuss their disease of interest.

2.  Student will be able to design a Punnett Square as a visual representation of the probabilities surrounding their selected disease.

3.  Student will be able to calculate the probabilities surrounding their selected disease.

4.  Student will be able to make a an educated proposal to a couple

RESEARCH QUESTIONS 

1. What are the purposes of your search?  What is the genetic abnormality that you have chosen to explore?

2. What are the visible and/or non-visible indications of this disease?

3. How has technology helped doctors and parents understand this disease?

4. What is an example of a genotype for each parent which could represent that they are a carrier of a chosen disease? 

5.  Create a Punnett square representation of the sample space for the possible offspring (children) of the parents.   

6.   What is the probability that a child would have the genotype for the disease?  What is the probability that a child would have the phenotype for the disease?

7.  How would these probabilities change for potential siblings of a single child? Use your understanding of independent vs. dependant events (connect to dictionary).

8.  Has the discovery of the genetic coding responsible for this disease made life easier or more difficult for the parents?  Why?

9.  Given the information from your answers above, what would your professional recommendation be to the potential parents?  Why?

10. What are the intangible, emotional aspects to this inquiry which may never be resolved?

11. Has this exploration changed your views or given you an opinion about human genetic manipulation? 

Assessment

Have the students select their form of grading. 

A.  They could receive a grade solely on the product they turn in to you.

B.  A performance assessment could be used perfectly here as the students could set up a doctor's office in the classroom and have two quick scenes.  The first scene could be the nervous and naive  couple  

RESOURCES

Following the Genetic Trail

Questions to consider - The Department of Energy is conducting the Human Genome Project in an attempt to both discover and sequence one person's genetic make-up (genome).

Colon Cancer

PBS

Genetics and Probability  Ideas for this section need to be credited to Usha Kotelawala.