Activities

The activities below contain assignments that explore the basic science, techniques, applications, and social implications of stem cell research. The assignments can be used independently of one another or in combination. We encourage you to browse through the various assignments and select the ones that would work best for your class.

Activity 1: The Public Profile of Stem Cell Research
Reflection and Discussion
Key Concepts: Social and ethical impact of stem cell use and derivation
Pedagogical Value: Stimulates and maintains interest by having students read secondary literature and form questions and engage discussion.

Activity 2: A Source of Embryonic Stem Cells: Human Clones?
Reading, Data Analysis, and Interpretation
Key Concepts: Cloning methods, embryonic stem cell line derivation, and tests for pluripotency
Pedagogical Value: Asks students to dissect a primary literature article (Hwang et al.) and give coherent oral and/or written answers to a set of specific scientific questions that also ask them to incorporate the social and ethical perspectives of the study

Activity 3: Communications in the Stem Cell Research Community
Reading, Data Analysis, and Interpretation
Key Concepts: Adult, embryonic, and fetal stem cell research involving many cell biological and genetic techniques involved in understanding signal transduction and genetic programming events that lead to cell differentiation.
Pedagogical Value: Provides students with a sense of how scientific progress is made. Asks students to read secondary and primary literature articles, address a set of questions and either write a review article, or orally present data from the article in a journal club format.

Activity 4: Stem Cell Technologies Applied to Public Health
A research paper that addresses a particular stem cell application
Key Concepts: Stem cells to treat or prevent diseases. Incorporates the methods of toxicity screens, and induction or inhibition of cell differentiation.
Pedagogical Value: Presents students with an opportunity to propose the development of a new therapeutic or screening process. A spin on the traditional research paper assignment that uses role-play and peer review

Activity 5: Taking a Stand of Stem Cell Research
Dilemma and Decision Making
Key Concepts: National and international responses to stem cell research and cloning to derive such cells
Pedagogical Value: Presents students with the controversies in this field and asks that they take a stand in the form of either an in-class symposium or a letter to a congressional representative

For a downloadable/printable version in PDF format of these Activities visit Core Materials

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