Lesson Plan: Finding the Code: The Race to Sequence the Human Genome and What It Means

Subjects:

Biological Science

• The video is for lessons on heredity, gene expression and epigenetics.
• The video can be used in Psychology lessons on nature and human conditions.

Essential Questions:

• How might the Human Genome Project transform medical science?
• How does public and private competition affect medical research?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Explain how the human genome was sequenced.
• Analyze the epigenetic factors complicating medical applications of human genome sequencing.
• Hypothesize how scientists will use the human genome sequencing to study and cure diseases.

Materials:

• Retro Report video “Finding the Code: The Race to Sequence the Human Genome and What It Means” (Transcript)
• Student Activity handout
• Help Me Understand Genetics | U.S. National Library of Medicine
• Human Genome Project Fact Sheet | U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute
• Research Areas | U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute

Procedure:

1. Provide the activity handout to students and instruct them (individually or in small groups) to fill out the activating prior knowledge section.
2. Watch (as a class or individually or in small groups) “Finding the Code: The Race to Sequence the Human Genome and What It Means” and have students fill out the corresponding table on the activity handout.
3. Lead students in a discussion on the prompt: “How might the Human Genome Project transform medical science?” Students will imagine they are writing news headlines for different areas covered within the video clip. They will write headlines and list the evidence they believe supports the headlines. The prompts on the activity handout are:
   1. The human genome is first sequenced (1990)
   2. Private companies begin researching the human genome (1999)
   3. Supercomputers are used to sequence the human genome (2015)
   4. For more information, see Create a Headline | Facing History & Ourselves
   5. Optional: Students share headlines in small or whole-class discussions.
4. Inform students that they will visit the “Help Me Understand Genetics” page of the U.S. National Library of Medicine to see the current state of genetic research. Students will pick two of the 11 fundamental topics of human genetics to learn more about these concepts. For each topic, students will answer the following on the activity handout:
   1. Which topic did you select?
   2. What vocabulary would a person need to understand to learn about this topic?
   3. What new pieces of information did you learn about this topic?
   4. How does this topic relate to the opportunities and challenges of understanding the human genome?
   5. Optional Extension Activity: Gallery Walk: Assign students groups to create posters for each fundamental topic. After the posters are created, students can read the other posters from the other topic areas.
5. Next, students will read the Human Genome Project Fact Sheet and write down three new pieces of information they learned.
   1. Note, this can be a good closure or anticipatory activity if you divide the lesson into two class periods.
6. Students will visit the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Research Areas page and select one of the areas of research being studied within the human genome.
   1. Alternatively, the teacher may assign students an area of research to be studied. The directions on the activity handout would need to be edited accordingly.
   2. Note: Students are writing a on-sentence summary of no more than 20 words. This is an adaptation of the 17 word summary outlined in Kelly Gallager’s book “In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom”, 2015. This forces students to be purposeful with their word choices. You may allow for more or fewer words, if you wish.
   3. Optional Extension Activities: Gallery Walk (as noted above) or Jigsaw strategy.
7. Wrap-up: Students reflect on the following:
   1. What discovery do you hope researchers are able to make next, using human genome sequencing?
   2. Compared with other major scientific discoveries, how significant has the mapping of the human genome been, in your view? Explain why you think so, considering what we know now.
   3. If time permits, allow discussion starting with pairs or small groups before an entire class discussion.

Extension Activity:

1. If applicable, have students explore a local research hospital or university to see work on researching the human genome.
2. Have students pick a specific disease or virus and research the status of treatment options.

About the Author:

Dan Bordwell is a Social Studies specialist for a large school district outside of Minneapolis, and an adjunct instructor in Social Studies methods. He has a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.

Standards

Common Core Literacy Standards

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.

Next Generation Science Standards

• HS-LS Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed on from parents to offspring.

AP Biology

• Topic 6.5: Regulation of Gene Expression
  Skill 6.D: Explain the relationship between experimental results and larger biological concepts, processes, or theories.