WEBQUESTS

Genetic Disease - Teacher's Section

Instructor Introduction

This webquest is intended for high school science class and undergraduate use: (1) in preparation for visits to the Koshland Science Museum (2) for extended learning after visiting the Koshland Science Museum, or (3) when the students are unable to visit the Marian Koshland Science Museum. It will introduce students to the concepts of bioinformatics, genetic diseases, and potential careers in science fields.

This webquest activity can be used in many different ways in your classroom. It is recommended that students be divided up into groups of four, so that each student can assume the role of one of the medical investigation team members. This encourages cooperative learning in the student groups and also gives students a chance to work as a team, much the way a real-world investigative team might do. Alternatively, the webquest can be completed by students individually, investigating all four roles by themselves. Either way, emphasis should be made on having the students communicate their findings by creating a presentation using multimedia whenever possible.

This webquest is designed to take approximately one week. It would be possible to do a shortened webquest with only the bioinformatics section, which should take one class period.

You can find more information about the webquest in the following sections

Background - Background information on the cystic fibrosis gene.
Flowchart and worksheets - Graphical flowchart of student activities and corresponding worksheets.
Science Education Standards - The National Science Education Standards relevant to this activity.
Evaluation - Rubric for evaluating student acheivement
Alternative Activities - Other suggestion of activities you can do in your classroom related to this webquest.