Activity 2.2.2 Reproductive Technology
Introduction
Imagine the future, a world where scientists can not only look into the DNA of the
unborn, but modify the genetic code to the specifications of the parents. Gene
therapy provides an avenue to eliminate disease genes, but does it also open the
door to designer children? What if scientists could eliminate genes related to obesity
or the predisposition for alcoholism? What if they could modify the genes that are
involved in eye color, hair color, or athletic ability? Science and medicine are already
changing the way men and women start families. There are more options than ever
before, but where do we draw the line?
In this activity, you will explore medical interventions that provide parents the
opportunity to make decisions about the children they hope to have. As you
investigate the reproductive technologies that are currently available and the
technologies of the future, decide how far you think parents should be able to go to
“design” their families.
Equipment
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Computer with Internet access
Activity 2.2.2 Student Response Sheet
Laboratory journal
Career journal
National Geographic Clone DVD
Poster board (optional)
Markers (optional)
Procedure
Part I: A Glimpse into the Future
1. Take out your laboratory journal and a pen.
2. Listen to the scenarios of the future presented by your teacher.
3. In your laboratory journal, list any variations on human reproduction that are
described in the text. Document the choices these parents made about how their
children come into the world and about genetic modifications.
4. With a partner, discuss whether you think each item in your list qualifies as Fact
or Fiction. Think about what interventions you believe scientists are able to offer
parents at the current time.
5. Share your decisions with the class.
Part II: Sex Selection
Mr. and Mrs. King have three healthy boys. Although Mrs. King loves her sons, she is
tired of being the only female in the house. She and her husband have decided they
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Medical Interventions Activity 2.2.2 Reproductive Technology – Page 1
want to have another child, but this time, they are looking to science to help them
conceive a girl.
6. Use the Internet to research medical interventions that can help Mrs. King fulfill
her dream of having a daughter. Investigate at least two current technologies or
interventions that provide parents the opportunity to choose the gender of their
children. Take notes in your laboratory journal.
7. Research the duties of the following biomedical careers professionals. Take
notes in your career journal.
o Reproductive endocrinologist
o Andrologist
o Embryologist
8. Write a brief description of the options available to Mrs. King from the perspective
of at least two of the medical professionals described in Step 7. Make sure to
illustrate how the technology works, but also explain any risks or costs
associated with the procedure(s). Your description could be in letter form or could
be a fictional conversation between the Kings and the members of the
reproductive technology team.
9. Answer Conclusion questions 1-2.
Part III: Designer Babies
Maya and Armond Harris have been trying for years to get pregnant. Their last two
attempts at in vitro fertilization (IVF) have been unsuccessful. The doctor suggests
using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to analyze chromosomes and pinpoint
the embryos that have a greater chance of surviving. Maya and Armond are hesitant to
select particular embryos – they feel as if this is putting them one step closer to
designing their child.
10. Obtain a Student Response Sheet from your teacher.
11. Imagine the science of gene therapy has advanced and you can now control
some of the traits and features of your child before he or she is ever born.
Options already exist to choose gender, but where would you draw the line?
Read each modification presented on the resource sheet and place a check mark
in the Yes or No column. Think about what “options” you would feel comfortable
choosing for your child.
12. Read the Time article Designer Babies available at
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,17696,00.html
13. Return to your Student Response Sheet and see if information from the article
changed you opinion on any of the listed reproductive options.
14. Raise your hand for each of your choices as the teacher polls the class. Be
prepared to explain your rationale for checking yes or no for each option.
15. As a class, decide what you think qualifies as legitimate gene therapy and what
crosses over into gene enhancement.
16. Answer Conclusion questions 3-5.
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Medical Interventions Activity 2.2.2 Reproductive Technology – Page 2
Part IV: Reproductive Cloning
Marion Waters is desperate to have a child of her own. Despite multiple fertility
treatments, she has never been able to conceive. She is a single woman and feels her
opportunity to have a child is quickly coming to a close. She sees a report on cloning on
the news and begins to wonder if this technology will ever be available to help women in
her situation.
17. Record your initial feelings on human cloning in your laboratory journal. Discuss
whether or not you believe cloning is a valid reproductive option for a woman like
Marion Waters.
18. View the ArgosBiotech’s website, Cloning: A Timeline, found at
http://www.argosbiotech.de/700/timelines/cloning.htm. Create a small
timeline of cloning events in your laboratory journal. Use only one sentence or
phrase for each date on the timeline.
19. Answer Conclusion question 6.
20. Watch the video clips (Chapter 3-5) from the National Geographic production
Clone. Take notes on the steps necessary to clone a human being.
21. Explore the science behind reproductive cloning by reading the following articles.
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Learn.Genetics Genetic Science Learning Center – What is Cloning?
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whatiscloning/
o
National Human Genome Research Institute – Cloning Fact Sheet
http://www.genome.gov/25020028
22. Add additional information to your notes in your laboratory journal using the
information from the video and the articles.
23. Return to your laboratory notebook and read your initial feelings about human
cloning. Discuss with a partner how you feel now about the topic.
24. Answer the remaining Conclusion questions.
CONCLUSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the pros and cons of allowing parents to choose the gender of their
children?
2. How can sex selection help parents who fear passing on a sex-linked disorder,
such as hemophilia or Duchene muscular dystrophy?
3. Who do you think should draw the line as to what constitutes gene therapy and
what constitutes gene enhancement? Parents? Doctors? Lawmakers? Explain
your choice.
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Medical Interventions Activity 2.2.2 Reproductive Technology – Page 3
4. How do wealth and economic status play into the debate over designing
children?
5. Explain the role the environment plays in two of the options listed on the student
resource sheet. How would this influence affect what parents hoped they could
achieve by altering genes?
6. Why was the cloning of Dolly such a monumental step in the history of
reproductive technology?
7. How does therapeutic cloning differ from reproductive cloning? Do you feel one is
more acceptable than the other? Why or why not?
8. Do you think cloning should ever be offered as a reproductive option for
humans? Why or why not?
WEB PORTFOLIO
1. Describe the difference between therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning?
Do you feel one is more acceptable than the other? Why or why not?
2. Do you think cloning should ever be offered as a reproductive option for
humans? Why or why not?
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Medical Interventions Activity 2.2.2 Reproductive Technology – Page 4