Narrative

This unit on DNA explores a vast range of the national science standards as well as the DESE frameworks.  First and foremost, all the lessons address science as inquiry.  Each lesson provides the opportunity for the students to explore ideas prior to the explicit knowledge being taught.  There is also the opportunity for the students to apply this learned knowledge in a more complex exercise.  These experiments lend themselves to motivate the students to develop their own hypotheses based on the knowledge just presented to them and see it they were able to draw the correct conclusion at the end of the lesson.  Their independent exploration of these ideas will help them make better connections with their previous knowledge to incorporate it into their ‘library’ of scientific knowledge.

 These lessons present the molecular characteristics of DNA, the role it plays within our cells, and how it connects us to our family.  The role of society and technology are also portrayed in the descriptions of heredity and analysis of the crime scene.  Technology has played an enormous role in the advancement of medicine.  However, some of these processes have had societal, ethical issues.  Various beneficial procedures have been developed in the past by ways not made so public.  Today, however, experimentation with say, stem cells, is very public and controversial.  Stem cell research may hold the key for a number of cures, but because the public is so well informed, this type of research may be outlawed.  There were times in the past where the research on humans and animals was absolutely inhumane, but the public was ignorant to it and beneficial outcomes resulted from it.  Because of extensive scientific research, medications have been developed to prolong people’s lives and to cure certain ailments that otherwise could have killed them. 

Students need a basic understanding of biological research so they can understand how their bodies work.  This information builds upon their knowledge of cellular function, requirements of the cell for homeostasis, cell replication and division, and the transmission of genetic material from parent to offspring.  Because of all the biological research being conducted today and reported in the media, students should have a basic understanding of these processes.  It is important for people to know and understand the genetic implications of diseases as well as those that can be acquired by other means, such as small cell carcinoma on the face due to extensive exposure to the sun. 

The importance of biological research to society on a whole as well as to each individual is imperative for the ever-increasing desire to improve our quality of life.  Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to our health and well-being.