(This is a lesson developed by Terry Yamamoto for her Biology I course which asks students to explore concepts in genetics through structured dialogues.)

Background/Introduction:

As you are aware by now, the field of genetics is an important and rapidly changing area of science. Each new discovery in this field brings with it opportunities and raises some difficult, complex, and often controversial issues. I believe it is crucial for you, as members of society (and future voters), to understand the science behind these genetic advances so that you can make more informed decisions about your position on these issues.

In order to help further your understanding and critical thinking skills on the issues of cloning and stem cell research, you will be asked to carry out two "dialogues" about these issues. The first dialogue will be an "interview" conducted in class with a partner. The goal of the interview is to learn about your partner's views on the issues mentioned above. This in-class activity will serve as a "practice run" for a creative, written dialogue that you will write for homework.

The idea behind this assignment is to give you the opportunity to hear a perspective other than your own and to learn about that perspective in fuller detail than we can in a large group class discussion. By hearing another perspective, as well as exploring and explaining your own views, the hope is that you will deepen and broaden your knowledge-base and thinking skills on these topics.

Procedure:

In Class:

1) Take out the questions we brainstormed as a class a few cycles ago pertaining to the issues of Cloning and Stem Cell Research.

2) Choose someone to work with for this activity. This will be your partner and you will be interviewing each other during class. You must work in a group of two people only.

3) Take 5-10 minutes to write down at least 4 questions you will ask your partner about Cloning and at least 4 questions you will ask your partner about Stem Cell Research. Your goal here is to ask questions you believe are particularly relevant about each topic. You are asking these questions in order to find out your partner's thoughts and personal views on each topic and the reasons why this person has the position that he/she does. Leave space under each question so that you have room to write the responses.

4) Take 10 minutes to interview your partner, soliciting and recording their responses. Your role is to be an interviewer only, meaning that your job is to ask questions, not to disagree with their point of view or offer a different opinion. You may stray from your written set of questions if that seems appropriate (in other words, if something they said triggered a different question for you then feel free to ask it).

5) After 10 minutes, finish the interview and switch roles. (The person who did the interviewing before will now be the person being interviewed)

Homework:

You now have the experience of the two interviews you conducted in class to build on. Your task is to write a dialogue between an interviewer and one other person about the topics of Cloning and Stem Cell Research. The person you choose to interview is for you to decide. For example you can be the person being interviewed, say by a magazine, as you are a current "student of genetics". Or you could be conducting the interview with a scientist who believes we should pursue cloning or one who feels we should not clone. Or you could interview somebody that wants to clone themselves to have a child. You could even simulate an interview with someone you know, such as a grandparent for example, as this type of technology may seem very foreign to someone a few generations removed.

In your dialogue, be sure to pursue both topics of Cloning and Stem Cell Research with at least four questions for each topic. Please double-space your dialogue.