Contemporary Issues in Biology: A Module for Teacher Training is a training module for teachers who will be teaching general biology. It is appropriate as a 3-hour college lab science course or as a 90-hour professional development workshop. The course is divided into four sections with a test for each. This can vary depending on the format of the professional development, the needs of the teachers, and the wishes of the professional development provider. The exams are not provided because of the public nature of websites.
The following is a syllabus for a 3-week summer workshop. Each day of the training module contains two lessons, a web-based investigation, and a wet-lab. The readings that are included are current for 2004 but will change in 2005 as new developments occur.
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All Lessons are available for download from this page as Powerpoint presentations. All Labs and Activities are available for download as Microsoft Word documents. Click on the live links below (green text) to download the appropriate Lessons, Activities or Labs to your computer.
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Section I
Day 1
Introduction by the Professional Development Provider
Lesson
1: Introduction
No reading
Activity
1: The Web as a Scientific Resource
Popular Press Reading: "The Web Docs." Christine Gorman. Time,
April 3, 2000.
Popular Press Reading: "Hunting for Health." Katherine Hobson. U.S.
News & World Report, November 17, 2003.
Popular Press Reading: "Don’t Get Buried." Avery Comarow.
U.S. News & World Report, November 8, 2004.
Lab
1: Scientific Equipment
No reading
Day 2
Lesson
2: Menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy
Popular Press Reading: "The End Of The Age of Estrogen." Geoffrey
Cowley and Karen Springer.
Newsweek, July 22, 2002.
Activity
2: Breast Cancer
Popular Press Reading: "Rethinking Breast Cancer." Christine Gorman.
Time, February 18, 2002.
Lab
2: Cell Division
No reading
Lesson
3: Prostate Cancer
Popular Press Reading: "Prostate Dilemmas." Susan Brink, Josh Fischman.
U.S. News & World Report, May 22, 2000.
Day 3
Lesson
4: Human Development and Stem Cells
Popular Press Reading: "Tweaking Nature’s Repair Kit." Joannie
Schrof Fischer.
U.S. News & World Report, June 12, 2000.
Activity
3: Human Reproduction & Teratogens
Popular Press Reading: "Cycle of Shame." Jeff Glasser.
U.S. News & World Report, May 20, 2002.
Lab
3: Karyotyping
No reading
Lesson
5: DNA and the Human Genome Project
Popular Press Reading: We’ve Only Just Begun. Joannie Schrof
Fisher.
U.S. News & World Report, July 3, 2000.
Day 4
Lesson
6: Individuality and Cloning
Popular Press Reading #1: "Dolly’s False Legacy." Ian Wilmut.
Time, January 11, 1999.
Popular Press Reading #2: "Send In The Clones?" Editors. U.S.
News & World Report, August 20, 2001.
Activity
4: DNA Fingerprinting
Popular Press Reading: "DNA Detectives." Jeffrey Kluger. Time,
January 11, 1999.
Lab
4: DNA Isolation
No reading
Lesson
7: Genetic Disorders & Gene Therapy
Popular Press Reading: "Good Eggs, Bad Eggs." Frederic Golden. Time,
January 11, 1999.
Day 5
Lesson: Assessment I (Lessons & labs)
Section II
Activity
5: Ulcers & the Digestive System
Popular Press Reading: Prescriptions: "How Your Doctor Makes The Choice."
Joseph P. Shapiro and Stacey Schultz. U.S. News & World Report,
February 19, 2001.
Lab
5: Digestive Enzymes
No reading
Lesson
8: Eating Disorders & the Digestive System
Popular Press Reading: "The Hunger Artists." Emily Sohn. U.S.
News & World Report, June 10, 2002.
Day 6
Lesson
9: Alcohol’s Effects on the Heart and Liver
Popular Press Reading: "When Drinking Helps." Janet Raloff. Science
News, March 8, 2003.
Activity
6: Heart Attacks
Popular Press Reading: Heart Attack: "What To Expect." Harvard
Health Letter, July 2002.
Lab
6: Respiration
No reading
Lesson
10: Circulatory System & Heart Disease
Popular Press Reading: "The No. 1 Killer Of Women." Christine Gorman.
Time, April 28, 2003.
Day
7
Lesson 11: Smoking, Emphysema
and Lung Cancer
Popular Press Reading: "Let The Butt Stop Here." Harvard Health
Letter, October, 2003.
Activity
7: Weight Control And Diet Drugs
Popular Press Reading: "Weight Gain And Loss." Harvard Health
Letter, March 2001.
Lab 7: Smoking
No reading
Lesson
12: Diseases of the Endocrine System
Popular Press Reading: "The Silent Killer." Joannie Schrof. U.S.
News &World Report, April 12, 1999.
Day 8
Lesson
13: Kidneys and the Urinary System
Popular Press Reading: "Urinary Tract Infection." Mayo Clinic
Health Letter, June 1999.
Lesson: Assessment II (Lessons & labs)
Section III
Activity
8: Drugs
Popular Press Reading: "Is Pot Good For You?" John Cloud. Time,
November 4, 2002.
Lab 8:
Dialysis
No reading
Lesson
14: Parasites and Disease
Popular Press Reading: "The season Of The tick: Lyme Disease Is Nothing
To Fool With But Its Easy To Prevent." Sanjay Gupta. Time, July
12, 2004.
Day 9
Lesson
15: Immune System, Viruses and Bacteria
Popular Press Reading: "Anatomy Of An Outbreak." Jeffrey Kluger.
Time, August 3, 1998.
Activity
9: Antibiotic Resistance
Popular Press Reading: "Battle Of The Bugs: Fighting Antibiotic Resistance."
Linda Bren.
FDA Consumer, July–August 2002.
Lab
9: Antibiotic Resistance
No reading
Lesson
16: Vaccines and Infectious Disease Prevention
Popular Press Reading: "Can We Kiss The Polio Scourge Goodbye?"
Leslie Roberts.
U.S. News & World Report, August 30, 1999.
Day 10
Lesson
17: HIV Infection and AIDS
Popular Press Reading: "Cruel Lessons From An Epidemic." Nell Boyce.
U.S. News & World Report, June, 2001.
Activity
10: Emerging Diseases: Ebola
Popular Press Reading: "How Progress Makes Us Sick: Advances That Make
Life More Comfortable Can Also Make It More Dangerous." Geoffrey Cowley.
Newsweek, May 5, 2003.
Lesson
18: Nervous System and Drug Addiction
Popular Press Reading: "Addicted: Why Do People Get Hooked?" Madeleine
Nash. Time, May 5, 1997.
Day 11
Lesson
19: Skeletal-muscular System and Arthritis
Popular Press Reading: The Age Of Arthritis: We’re Headed For An Epidemic
Of Joint Disease: What You Can Do To Protect Yourself." Christine Gorman
and Alice Park. Time, December 9, 2002.
Activity
11: The Brain And Alzheimer's Disease
Popular Press Reading: "Memory Loss: When To Seek Help." MayoClinic.com.
Lesson: Assessment III (Lessons & labs)
Section IV
Day 12
Lesson
20: Origin & Evolution of Life
Popular Press Reading: "Twenty Questions: What Have The Courts Said About
The Teaching Of Evolution And Creationism In Public Schools?" Randy Moore,
Murray Jensen and Jay Hatch. BioScience, August 2003.
Activity
12: Human Evolution
Popular Press Reading #1: "The ‘Gang’ Hits Again." Simon
Nairobi. Time, April 2, 2001.
Popular Press Reading #2: "Ancestral Bushwhack: Hominid Tree Gets Trimmed
Twice." B. Bower.
Science News, May 3, 2003.
Popular Press Reading #3: "Skull Details Suggest Neanderthals Were Not
Humans," John Wilford.
Science, January 27, 2004
Lab 12:
Evolution
No reading
Lesson
21: Agricultural Systems and Transgenic Organisms
Popular Press Reading: "Cures on the Cob." Margot Roosevelt. Time,
May 26, 2003.
Day 13
Lesson
22: Pesticides and Organic Farming
Popular Press Reading: "Certified Organic." Geoffrey Cowley. Newsweek,
September 30, 2002.
Activity
13: Xeriscaping
Popular Press Reading: "The Great Xeriscape." Leora Broydo. Mother
Jones. May/June 1997.
Lab
13: Photosynthesis
No reading
Lesson
23: Water Cycle
Popular Press Reading: "Water Fights." Alex Markels. U.S. News
& World Report, May 19, 2003.
Day 14
Lesson
24: Acid Rain and Fishless Lakes
Popular Press Reading: "Acid Rain: Forgotten, Not Gone." Leslie
Roberts.
U.S. News & World Report, November 1, 1999.
Activity
14: Dangerous Plants and Animals
Popular Press Reading: "Poison Ivy." Margaret M. Cooley. New
York State Conservationist, June 2000.
Lab
14: Water Treatment Plant
No reading.
Lesson
25: Exotic Species and the Environment
Popular Press Reading: "A Long, Slow Autumn." Jessica Ruvinsky.
U.S. News & World Report, September 9, 2002.
Day 15
Lesson
26: Ozone Hole and Global Warming
Popular Press Reading: "Life In The Greenhouse." Michael Lemonick.
Time, April 9, 2001.
Lesson
27: Nuclear Meltdown
Popular Press Reading: "When The World Stopped." Marianne Lavelle.
U.S. News & World Report, March 29, 1999.
Final Exam: (Lessons & labs)
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