Science Journal Club
Background to the Journal Club
As a result of a series of blank looks when I asked my form about wider reading, I set up a Science
Journal Club for Sixth Formers at Lingfield Notre Dame School. The intention is to provide a
focused group in which students can discuss material that complements and extends the A Level
curriculum, deliberately chosen to stretch their understanding and to allow examination of
scientific research. The club has a biological & biochemical focus in its present format, however I
hope it will develop and colleagues from chemistry and physics will contribute sessions.
The Club is based on an academic journal club model (e.g. bit.ly/BMJ_journalclub), with a paper
(or other source material) chosen for each session, although there is no single presenter. In order
to help the students access material, I have written questions for them to answer whilst reading
the paper, which are then discussed together. The focus in a session is not on getting through a
set of questions however – rather that these formed the basis for discussion that could lead into
different areas around the central topic.
Below are a series of articles and other source materials, with accompanying questions, that could
provide a starting point for any biological sciences journal club. The articles are all freely
accessible online, and many come from the excellent Nature Education site (where topics can be
accessed at different levels). I have suggested curriculum links to the main A Level exam boards,
and provided my own ‘running order’, though this is entirely flexible. I would, however,
recommend running the sessions like ‘What is Science?’, ‘Bad Science’ and ‘Can Anyone Do
Science?’ to start the club off – these sessions have deliberately open questions to promote
discussion and introduce students to the structure of a scientific paper.
The Lingfield Journal Club has completed a full year, with eight of the 11 regular A2 attendees
going on to higher education in a scientific field. These students all made reference to the Journal
Club in their university applications - it enabled them to demonstrate that they were engaged in
the subject beyond the course. When asked, however, most did not cite having material for their
Personal Statement as a main reason they attended the Journal Club. As one student put it “it was
nice to look at science for its own sake, not just material that was going to be in an exam.” I am
very grateful to my first Journal Club members for their enthusiasm and willingness to tackle
material that they initially thought was ridiculously difficult and beyond their capabilities. I
enjoyed helping them to disprove this assumption.
If you have any suggestions for papers or topics for future journal clubs, or have any suggestions
for alterations/corrections to the resources shown here please let me know! You can find me on
Twitter @MrsDrSarah or e-mail me pannells@lingfieldnd.co.uk.
p. 1
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Practicalities:
 I run separate clubs for AS/A2 students, as this enables material to be chosen that is
relevant to their understanding and sometimes links to their class work (loosely).
 Each group meets once a fortnight, with the paper(s) and questions provided in advance.
 The papers do take time to read, which should be emphasised to students.
o They will get more out of the discussion if they have the paper and thought through
the questions in advance.
o I do encourage students to attend even if they haven’t read the paper, as it both
reminds them to read it for next time and means others have to explain the content
– helping their understanding further.
 If students are reticent to discuss material, I recommend using the I’m A Scientist, Get Me
Out Of Here debate sessions to get students talking about challenging ideas. (Even if they
are happy to discuss – the debates enable students to appreciate different viewpoints.)
 I have not included answers to the questions, nor do I ever give formal answers to students
– I explain to them that the point is to read the source material and discuss the questions!
Spring Term
Autumn Term
The table below shows my current intended running order for 2014/15. This loosely matches our
Schemes of Work, particularly in the Autumn Term, with the first few sessions run for AS students
as an introduction to the club format. I also invite guest speakers (check local universities or
STEMNET for potential speakers), so this order will inevitably change as the year progresses.
Participating in I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here (http://imascientist.org.uk/) is a very valuable
experience and one I recommend, especially if you aren’t able to invite visiting scientists.
p. 2
AS
A2
What is science?
Mendelian genetics
Bad science
C4 Photosynthesis
Can anyone do science?
Molecular Biology
DNA
Protein structure
I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here
Mitosis and meiosis
Bioinformatics (workshop)
Recombination
Human Genome Project
Scientific discovery
HGP – Systems Biology
Protein misfolding [1]
Epigenetics
Protein misfolding [2]
Stem cells
Are we too clean?
IVF
Should all drugs be banned in sport?
Genetic modification
Legalisation of drugs
Food security
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: What is Science?
Session aim: Consider the nature of science and the role of scientists
Before listening to the programme write quick responses to these questions:
 What do you think science is?
 Do you consider yourself a scientist? Why/Why not?
 What are the skills a scientist needs?
Listen: The Infinite Monkey Cage, Series 8, Episode 4 http://bit.ly/MonkeyCage)
 Brian flippantly says that what makes a science a science is ‘careful observation and the
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application of common sense’. Do you agree with him? If he’s right, then isn’t everything
we do science?
What is Social Science? Why is do the panellists not consider it a science?
Do the panellists’ ideas about what science is agree with what you wrote above? What
similarities/differences are there in our definitions?
Ben describes science as ‘a set of tools rather than a domain of activity’ – what tools do
scientists use?
Sophie describes science as ‘a process’ – what processes do scientists use? Is there one
scientific approach that can be applied to all sciences? Why/why not?
What is a theory? Is our understanding of the word the same across biology/chemistry/
physics?
In school science we focus a lot about controlling variables – is this a good idea? As a way
of teaching students scientific skills is it representative of how science works in the real
world? Why/why not?
‘If science is so good, why do they keep having to change it’?
What do you want scientific proof of?
Session notes:
I normally run this as the first Journal Club session as an introduction to the structure and to
encourage students to discuss their opinions. We spend about 5 minutes discussing the ‘before
listening’ questions, I then produce (my own, home-made version of) Science Museum Mystery
Boxes (http://bit.ly/SMmysterybox). We spend some time looking at and discussing these before
talking about the questions relating to the Infinite Monkey Cage episode.
The type of questions I pose when looking at the mystery boxes include: how would you find out
what is in them; what assumptions do you make about the contents; what scientific skills are
being used; why the boxes are an excellent analogy for scientific work (as you use observations
and prior knowledge to draw conclusions but these can be altered with increasing evidence, also
discussion about the results helps to improve your conclusions).
p. 3
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Bad Science
Session aim: Identify ways that scientific research can be misconstrued and
manipulated to suggest different things and how the public can be misled by
incorrect claims reported in the media.
Watch: Ben Goldacre’s TED talk on Bad Science: http://bit.ly/BadSciTalk
Read: any Bad Science article from The Guardian newspaper: http://bit.ly/BadSciGuardian (or
Chapter 1 of Bad Science by Ben Goldacre)
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Where do you get information from about what things are good for you?
Do you always trust these sources of information? (Why/why not?)
Why don’t the headline stories in newspapers about scientific claims tell the full story?
What do you understand to be ‘bad science’?
Is bad science dangerous? Why/why not?
Why are people taken in by pseudoscience? Is there anything that can/should be done to
mitigate against this?
How do you feel about the idea that much of the trials data about drugs is withheld by
manufacturers?
What is the difference between Gillian McKeith’s ‘bad science’ and the withholding of data
by pharmaceutical companies?
Bring along any examples of bad science that you’ve come across recently.
Extension questions
 What are clinical trials?
 What is an observational trial? What are the problems with observational trials?
 What is the placebo effect?
 How can clinical trials be manipulated to show favourable information (favourable to the
person running the trial)?
Session notes:
This session works really well if the students have been active in finding ‘bad science’ examples as
you can use these as a springboard into discussing the spectrum of pseudoscientific information
that the public are subjected to (from harmless to the withholding of information on the effects of
drugs in clinical trials). If you have the facilities, it is useful to consider showing a recent advert for
beauty treatments to show how easy it is to add different “scientific” phrases to market a product.
p. 4
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Can anyone do science?
Session aim: Examine the scientific method and processes that scientists go through
when approaching and writing about experiments.
Watch: Beau Lotto & Amy O’Toole talk about the background to the Blackawton Bees project in a
TED talk http://bit.ly/BlackawtonTED
Read: Blackawton P.S. et al (2011) Blackawton Bees. Biology Letters 7 (2), 168-172
http://bit.ly/blackawtonbees
Questions related to the research paper & TED talk
 In the Background to the paper, and in the introduction to his talk, Beau Lotto says that
“science [is] the process of playing with rules that enables one to reveal previously unseen
patterns of relationships that extend our collective understanding of nature and human
nature.” How does this fit with your understanding of what science is?
 Why is the process of asking questions so important in science?
 What was the question that the scientists focused on? Why is this of interest?
 How were the bees trained? Why was this training important?
 What was the point of Test 1?
 How did the results of each test differ? What did the scientists conclude were the reasons
for these differences?
 How does the paper explain their ‘Principal Finding’?
Questions related to the structure of a scientific paper
 The paper deliberately does not reference previous work on this topic (see the Background
section of the paper for an explanation of this decision). Does this affect how you view the
work? Why do most scientific articles reference other work?
 What is the purpose of each section of the paper (Principal Finding, Introduction, Material
& Methods etc.)?
 Are the Figures valuable to you as a reader? Why is this?
p. 5
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: DNA – the discovery of a century?
Session aim: Examine the original reporting of the structure of DNA and the
implications of that structure for the field of genetics.
Read: Watson J.D. and Crick F.H.C. (1953) A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 171,
737-738 http://bit.ly/DNAstructure
Read: Watson J.D. and Crick F.H.C. (1953) Genetical Implications of the structure of
Deoxyribonucleic Acid. Nature 171, 964-967 http://bit.ly/DNAimplications
Questions related to Paper 1 – Molecular Structure
 What were the two previous models of the DNA strand? Why did Watson and Crick think
they were incorrect?
 What was unique about Watson and Crick’s DNA model?
 Watson and Crick didn’t know about RNA – why did they suggest that a deoxyribose sugar
was essential for their model?
Questions related to Paper 2 – Genetical Changes
 Why was the work of Wilkins and co-workers (2nd paragraph) essential in the
establishment of a structure for DNA?
 Why was their knowledge of hydrogen bonding so important?
 What were the previous models of DNA replication? How do these differ from the model
that Watson and Crick propose (and what we now know to be true)?
 Do we know answers to any of the questions they pose in the penultimate paragraph?
Session notes:
The vocabulary in these papers should be relatively familiar to A Level students, but encouraging
students to make a note of unfamiliar words and look them up is general good practise when
reading scientific work and so a good habit to get in to.
During this session my students also spent some time discussing how advances in science become
familiar, hence that whilst this work was ground breaking at the time but that time was over 60
years ago – we are familiar with the structure of DNA and tend to take this for granted!
p. 6
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Mitosis and Meiosis
Session aim: Discuss the differences between the processes of mitosis and meiosis,
and what happens if they go wrong.
Read: Miko I. (2008) Mitosis, meiosis, and inheritance. Nature Education 1 (1), 206
http://bit.ly/cell_division
 What did scientists think before chromosome theory was understood?
 Why are the exceptions to the ‘standard’ miotic process described in the paper
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p. 7
advantageous for certain organisms?
Why did Flemming mistake meiosis for mitosis in his observations?
What were the observations made that allowed the distinction to be noted between
mitosis and meiosis?
Why is the number of combinations of gametes significant? What does the author mean
when they say “Of course, there are more than 23 segregating units”?
How do aberations in chromosome number occur?
What is aneuploidy? Is it always a problem for the organism?
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Recombination
Session aim: Explore how the process of recombination allows for increased genetic
diversity.
Read: Clancy S. (2008) Genetic recombination. Nature Education 1 (1), 40
http://bit.ly/recombination
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p. 8
What is the difference between homologous and non-homologous recombination? Is one
more problematic than the other?
Why is recombination more significant in meiosis than mitosis?
What is a Holliday junction?
Why is a double strand break potentially detrimental to an organism?
How were the enzymes involved in recombination identified?
Why is it important for organisms to rapidly repair breaks in DNA?
Where are the gaps in scientists’ understanding of this process?
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Scientific discovery
Session aim: Identify and discuss significant scientific discoveries of the 20th and 21st
Century.
Read: Find your own information about what you consider to be the most significant
scientific discovery of the 20th/21st centuries.
Come to the session prepared to discuss why you think it is so important.
Questions to consider
 Who made the discovery? Was it a single person/lab or a group from
different institutions?
 What was the discovery?
 What was the impact of the discovery on science at the time?
 What was the impact of the discovery on the public at the time?
 What has been the impact of the discovery since it was made?
 What makes this the most significant discovery of the 20th and 21st centuries?
p. 9
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Protein misfolding and disease [1]
Session aim: Investigate what happens when proteins misfold and how this can be
detrimental to an organism.
Read: Reynaud E. (2010) Protein Misfolding and Degenerative Diseases. Nature Education 3 (9), 28
http://bit.ly/misfolding
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Why are proteins so important? Do you think they are more important to understand than
DNA?
What are the interactions that take place within an amino acid chain that allow proteins to
fold?
What is Levinthal’s Paradox?
What do chaperones do?
Why is it so important that proteins fold correctly?
What is the potential problem with unstable proteins?
Why do proteins with large portions of beta-sheet clump together?
What is amyloid?
Is the development of amyloid-based diseases a hazard of our increased life span, or is
there a cure for these diseases?
Optional: Download and play the protein folding puzzle programme FoldIt (http://fold.it/portal/) warning: this can be addictive! See Khatib F. et al. (2011) http://bit.ly/foldit_paper for background
on how playing this game has helped solve unknown protein structures.
Session notes:
It seems sensible to run the two sessions on protein misfolding and disease sequentially, though
this is not vital and it is entirely possible to run either independently, however the second paper
(protein aggregation) is more challenging.
p. 10
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Protein misfolding and disease [2]
Session aim: Investigate what happens when proteins misfold and how this can be
detrimental to an organism.
Read: Ervine G.B., El-Agnaf O.M., Shankar (2008) Protein Aggregation in the Brain: The Molecular
Basis for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Molecular Medicine 14, 7-8, 451-464
http://bit.ly/protein_agg
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The paper describes some early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease as having ‘a strong Mendelian
inheritance pattern’. What does this mean?
Why is the genetic component of late-onset Alzheimer’s more complex than early-onset?
What Is Aβ? How is it responsible for the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
The Tau protein has also been widely associated with Alzheimer’s disease. What is it and
why is it associated with Alzheimer’s?
How do mutations within and around the Aβ fragment contribute to different severities of
Alzheimer’s disease?
Why is there a problem in the reliable diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease?
What are the routes for future Alzheimer’s treatment discussed in the paper (Figure 2)?
Session notes:
It seems sensible to run the two sessions on protein misfolding and disease sequentially, though
this is not vital and it is entirely possible to run either independently, however this paper on
protein aggregation is more challenging.
I use a shortened version of the paper, with the focus solely on Alzheimer’s disease. I also remove
the sections entitled EMERGING DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS, NEUROPATHOLOGICAL HALLMARKS OF
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE and IDENTIFICATION OF NEUROTOXIC, NONFIBRILLAR Aβ AGGREGATES that
contain significant portions of very high-level discussion.
p. 11
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Are we too clean?
Session aim: Discuss the problems that arise through over-use of cleaning products
and antibiotics. Debate the question ‘Should we ban advertising of antimicrobial
cleaners?’
Read: Wise R., Hart T., Cars O., Streulens M., Helmuth R., Huovinen P., Sprenger M., (1998)
Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to public health. British Medical Journal, 317, 609-610
http://bit.ly/BMJresistance
Read: Fauci A.S. & Marston H.D., (2014) The perpetual challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 113, 18, 1853-1854 http://bit.ly/JAMAresistance
 The two articles were published more than 15 years apart. Has anything changed in the
fight against antimicrobial resistance?
 Do you think the use of antimicrobial cleaners (such as Dettol®) has had an effect – either
on a patient’s expectation for antibiotics or the resistance of bacteria to microbes?
 Find out about the “hygiene hypothesis”. Do you agree with it? To what extent?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_clean. The kit
contains eight characters (both for and against a ban on advertising of antimicrobial cleaners) and
instructions for how the debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the papers (though they are both
quick to read), as long as they have an understanding of antibiotic resistance, antibiotics and
antimicrobial cleaners.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the use of antimicrobial cleaners and antibiotics. It is interesting to find out
students’ views on the use of antibiotics before the debate and then discuss how or if additional
information changes their opinion. It may also be worth discussing public attitudes to healthcare
and the points the papers make about patients putting pressure on GPs to prescribe unnecessary
antibiotics.
p. 12
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Should all drugs be banned in sport?
Session aim: Discuss the issues around the use of performance-enhancing drugs and
whether the use of these substances is necessarily always bad.
Read: Savulescu J., Foddy B. and Clayton M., (2004) Why we should allow perfomance-enhancing
drugs in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38, 666-670 http://bit.ly/SportDrugs
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How do you feel about the title of the article?
What do you think the motivation is for athletes that use performance-enhancing drugs?
This paper was published 10 years ago. Has drugs testing in sport changed? How?
Do you think it is fair to compare professional athletes with professional musicians? If so,
why is one group permitted to take performance-enhancing drugs and one not?
Is enhancing an athlete any different from improving their equipment or clothing?
Do you think that injecting EPO is any less ‘fair’ than training at altitude before competing?
What do you think about the comment that if children are training as professional athletes,
they should be given the same drugs that adult professionals would be if using drugs was
allowed?
Do you agree with the “doctrine of strict liability”, even in the case of accidental
consumption?
If you were a professional athlete, would you rather be tested for health or drugs?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_sport. The kit
contains eight characters (both for and against a ban on use of all drugs in sport) and instructions
for how the debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the paper, as long as they have an
understanding of the issues around use of drugs in sport.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the use of different drugs in sport. It is interesting to find out students’ views on
the use of different drugs in sports – for example the difference between using asthma drugs or
EPO - before the debate and then discuss how or if additional information changes their opinion.
It may also be worth discussing public attitudes to sport and the points the paper make about
athletes having a level playing field.
p. 13
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Legalisation of drugs
Session aim: Explore the complex issues surrounding the legalisation of drugs such
as cannabis for use in the UK.
Read: Coombs R., (2014) Cannabis regulation: high time for a change? British Medical Journal, 348
http://bit.ly/BMJcannabis
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What is your initial opinion about the recreational and medicinal use of cannabis?
Do you think that there is a difference between use of cannabis and consumption of
alcohol?
Do you think that the motivation behind Uruguay’s move to legalise cannabis (to prevent
drug dealers being able to sell harder drugs, particularly to teens) is valid?
Why is there a problem with “coffee shops” selling cannabis in the Netherlands?
Do you agree with any of the models from different countries/US states?
How do you feel about the creation of sweets (e.g. “gummy bears”) with the psychoactive
compounds from cannabis in? Do you think this makes the use more appealing for
younger people?
How much is known about the health problems associated with use of cannabis?
Do you think that international conventions on the control of drugs are necessary, or
should countries be free to make decisions within their own borders?
What do you think about the existing UK drugs laws?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_cannabis. The kit
contains eight characters (both for and against the legalisation of cannabis in the UK) and
instructions for how the debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the paper, as long as they have an
understanding of the current regulation of cannabis in the UK and in other countries.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the legalisation of cannabis use in the UK. It is interesting to find out students’
views on whether they would choose to legalise cannabis in advance of the debate and then
discuss how or if additional information changes their opinion. It may also be worth discussing the
different political standpoints on this issue, as well as the varieties of police response to posession
of cannabis.
p. 14
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Mendelian genetics
Session aim: Examine the research carried out by Mendel and how this work formed
the basis of a new field of biology: genetics.
Read: Miko I. (2008) Gregor Mendel and the principles of inheritance. Nature Education 1 (1), 134
http://bit.ly/Mendel1
Read: Chial, H. (2008) Mendelian genetics: Patterns of
disorders. Nature Education 1 (1), 63 http://bit.ly/Mendel2
inheritance
and
single-gene
Optional: Mendel, G. (1865) Versuche über Plflanzenhybriden. Verhandlungen des
naturforschenden Verienes in Brunn, Bd. IV fur das Jahr 1965, Abhandlungen, 3-47. Translated by
Bateson, W. (1901) with corrections by Blumberg, R. (1996) http://bit.ly/MendelOriginal
Questions related to Paper 1 – Principles of inheritance
 Why did Mendel use Pisum sativum rather than humans (or other mammals) to study
inheritance?
 Why was it important that the seven traits of peas that Mendel and his assistants studied
only had two forms? (What were the seven traits?)
 How did Mendel show that traits were not being ‘blended’ as was previously thought?
 What are Mendel’s principles of inheritance?
 How did Mendel establish his principles of inheritance without understanding what genes
are?
 Are Mendel’s principles always true?
 Why weren’t Mendel’s ideas widely recognised in the scientific community until the early
20th Century?
Questions related to Paper 2 – Patterns of inheritance
 What are single-gene disorders, and why are they referred to as ‘Mendelian diseases’?
 Why can autosomal recessive single-gene disorders ‘skip’ generations?
 Why are autosomal dominant single-gene disorders unlikely to be passed on to the next
generation? (Why is Huntington’s Disease an exception?)
 Why are men more likely to be affected by an X-linked single-gene disorder than women?
 How has the Human Genome Project helped scientists to understand the inheritance of
single-gene disorders?
 Why is describing a disease as a ‘single-gene disorder’ often not technically correct?
p. 15
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Photosynthesis
Session aim: Increase understanding of photosynthesis by exploring the structural
and biochemical features of C4 photosynthesis.
Read: Day S. (2013) The C4 Rice Project. Science and Plants for Schools http://bit.ly/C4rice
Listen: Naked Scientists (2013) Dining out on Food Security interview with Helen Woodfield
http://bit.ly/C4riceinterview
Optional: Look at the International Rice Research Institute website (http://c4rice.irri.org/) for up
to date information on this project.
 What is the problem with increasing rice production to feed a growing population?
 What is the ‘fundamental flaw at the heart of normal [C3] photosynthesis’? Why is this
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p. 16
such a flaw?
How do plants that carry out C4 photosynthesis overcome this flaw?
Why is water saving an advantage for C4 plants?
What is CAM?
What are the differences between the leaves of C3 and C4 plants? (Drawing this may help
your understanding.) How does the anatomy of a C4 leaf enable it to improve its rate of
photosynthesis?
What is significant about the evolution of C4 plants?
Why could understanding the evolution of C4 plants enable scientists to develop a C4 rice
crop?
Why do scientists take a long view for this research?
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Molecular Biology
Session aim: Using the central dogma of molecular biology, explore how DNA, RNA
and proteins interact and the emergence of a new field of research: systems biology.
Read: Potters G. (2010) Systems Biology of the Cell. Nature Education 3 (9), 33
http://bit.ly/systemsbio
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What is molecular biology?
What is the central dogma of molecular biology?
How is systems biology different from molecular biology?
Why is it important to understand that ‘nothing in biology acts alone’?
Why has systems biology been a motivator for technological development? What have
these developments been and how have they supported the systems biology field?
Session notes:
It may be worth running a sequence using the protein structure session, this session and then the
Bioinformatics Workshop (using resources produced by Dr Jeremy Pritchard at the University of
Birmingham) as a sequence. The workshop gives students the opportunity to put into practise
some of the basic bioinformatic techniques that are commonly used by scientists to examine gene
sequence and protein structure.
p. 17
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Protein structure
Session aim: Describe levels of protein structures, how these structures are studied
and suggest how understanding protein structure can help in the fight against
disease.
Read: Goodsell D. S. (2010) The Protein Data Bank: Exploring Biomolecular Structure. Nature
Education 3 (9), 39 http://bit.ly/NaturePDB
Explore: Have a look at some of the molecules in the Protein Data Bank http://bit.ly/PDB_health
Questions related to the paper
 What methods can be used to examine the three dimensional structures of biological
molecules? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?
 Why is it important for scientists to share information about the structures of molecules in
the publicly accessible Protein Data Bank?
 Why is knowing the atomic structure of biological molecules useful?
 What are the potential problems with the methods of studying molecular structures that
we currently use?
Questions related to the PDB exploration
 Pick one or two protein(s) from one section of the Health and Disease pages.
o Briefly describe the structure of the protein(s) e.g. molecular weight, number of
amino acids in a chain, features of the structure.
o Use the information provided to explain how the structure relates to the function
of that protein.
p. 18
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: The Human Genome Project
Session aim: Explore the Human Genome Project, and how this vast scientific
challenge has prompted development of new technologies for genome sequencing.
Read: Hood L. and Galas D., (2003) The digital code of DNA. Nature, 421, 444-448
http://bit.ly/DigitalDNACode
 Do you take the structure of DNA for granted? Can you imagine scientists not knowing
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p. 19
about A, T, C & G?
What are polymorphisms? How do these allow DNA fingerprinting?
Why do you think Gilbert and Sanger picked viral DNA for their first sequence?
What combination of factors were needed for the ‘genomics’ era? Could it have happened
20 years earlier?
Why was/is the Human Genome Project (HGP) so important?
At what point would you consider the HGP ‘finished’?
If you were part of the HGP, would you have made all the data freely available? Why/why
not?
Why are genes that encode proteins easier to understand than genes that encode the
“regulatory networks”?
Why is systems biology seen as a significant step in the future of biological study?
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: The HGP – Implications for Systems Biology
Session aim: Explore the implications of the Human Genome Project on molecular
biology.
Read: Potters G. (2010) How the Human Genome Project Opened up the World of
Microbes. Nature Education 3 (9), 34 http://bit.ly/HGPtoSystems
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p. 20
What is systems biology?
Why was decoding the human genome so important?
Why are scientists still working on human genome sequencing?
What is the interest in sequencing multiple different species’ DNA?
What is the “minimal genome”?
Do the differences numbers of genes that different species have surprise you? Why/why
not?
How do genome sequences inform both proteomics and functional genomics?
What is the benefit of being able to quantify gene expression?
What are post-translational modifications? Why can’t a gene sequence predict posttranslational modification?
Why doesn’t genome = transcriptome = proteome?
How is the ‘-omics’ study of cells expanding? Is this exponential?
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Epigenetics
Session aim: The expression of genes in cells is much more complex than originally
thought – explore how cells control gene expression.
Read: Goldberg A.D., Allis C.D., Bernstein E., (2007) Epigenetics: A landscape takes shape. Cell, 128,
4, 635-638 http://bit.ly/Cell_epi
Read: Day S. (2014) Epigenetics: The hidden secrets of inheritance. Science and Plants for Schools
http://bit.ly/SAPS_epi
Questions related to Paper 1 – A landscape takes shape
 How has Waddington’s early definition of epigenetics changed as more is understood
about the nature of DNA modification? How is epigenetics defined now?
 What is Waddington’s “Epigenetic Landscape”? How does it model the process of cellular
differentiation?
 What are the possible ways that DNA/histone proteins can be modified?
 Which do you think is the most important question to answer from those identified on
page 3 or 4? Why?
 Why has the field of epigenetics become more popular over the last 5-10 years?
Questions related to Paper 2 – The hidden secrets of inheritance
 How are epigenetic modifications passed on?
 What did Jander and co-workers discover about Arabidopsis thaliana? Why was this
significant?
 Does epigenetic inheritance conflict with your understanding of Darwinian evolution?
Session notes:
At the start of this session I gave each student a basic poem and a different colour highlighter and
asked them to highlight different features of the poem in 2 minutes (rhyme, structure, simile,
metaphor etc.). The different colour patterns showed different features – this provided a physical
representation of how epigenetics works that some found useful.
For more information on this topic, I have referred students to (& even bought for my lab library)
Nessa Carey’s The Epigenetics Revolution (Icon Books, 2012)
p. 21
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Stem cells
Session aim: Discuss the ethical and scientific issues surrounding the use of
embryonic or adult stem cells. Debate the question ‘Should the UK government
fund embryonic stem cell research?’
Read: Puri M.C. and Nagy A., (2012) Embryonic stem cells versus induced pluripotent stem cells:
the game is on. Stem Cells, 30, 10-14 http://bit.ly/ESCviPSC
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What are the differences between induced pleuripotent stem cells and embryonic stem
cells?
What are the main ethical issues regarding use of stem cells to treat disease?
The paper asks “can iPSCs replace ESCs in clinical application and disease modelling?” – do
you think there is a future in this line of research?
What is the difference between germline and somatic cells? How might this affect iPSCs?
What is somatic cell nuclear transfer? Why did it win Sir John Gurdon a Nobel Prize?
Should the UK government fund embryonic stem cell research?
Should the UK government fund induced pleuripotent stem cell research?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_stemcells. The kit
contains eight characters (both for and against funding research) and instructions for how the
debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the paper (which is reasonably
challenging in places, though entirely readable in others), as long as they have an understanding of
the differences between embryonic stem cells and induced pleuripotent stem cells.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the funding of stem cell research. It is interesting to find out students’ views on
research funding before the debate and then discuss how or if additional information changes
their opinion. It may also be worth discussing public understanding of science funding and/or the
nature of applications for funding in this country, especially if students are interested in pursuing
scientific careers, potentially in research.
p. 22
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: IVF
Session aim: Evaluate the ethical issues around IVF and discuss whether this
treatment should be funded on the NHS.
Read: Singer P. and Wells D., (1983) In vitro fertilisation: the major issues. Journal of Medical
Ethics, 9, 192-195 http://bit.ly/IVFissues
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The paper, which is over 30 years old, identifies many ethical issues with IVF treatment.
Are these issues still valid when we consider IVF?
The NHS guidelines are now that women between 23 and 39 with a diagnosis of infertility
are entitled to three rounds of IVF treatment. Do you think that fertility treatment should
be funded in this way?
What do you think of the argument made (at the time!) that orphans in the developing
world should be adopted by infertile couples in developed countries?
At what point do you consider ‘life’ to start? What causes disagreement about this?
Do you think the criteria for the use of embryonic material (page 2, final paragraphs) is
valid?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_IVF. The kit contains
eight characters (both for and against the funding of IVF via the NHS) and instructions for how the
debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the paper, as long as they have an
understanding of how IVF is performed and the ethical issues surrounding this treatment.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the funding of IVF through the NHS. It is interesting to find out students’ views on
IVF funding before the debate and then discuss how or if additional information changes their
opinion. It may also be worth discussing the variety of opinions about IVF and the reasons for
these opinions, as well as how opinions and technologies have changed since the publication of
the paper.
p. 23
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Genetic Modification
Session aim: The GM debate is fierce and polarised – explore the science behind the
headlines.
Read: Gilbert (2013) A hard look at GM crops. Nature, 497, 24-26 http://bit.ly/hardlookatGM
Read: Leyser O (2014) Moving beyond the GM Debate. PLoS Biol, 12, 6 http://bit.ly/GMDebate
Explore: Find some negative imagery regarding genetic modification. How does this imagery
portray its message? What is the message it is trying to get across? Bring any images to the
session.
Questions related to Paper 1 – A hard look
 What are the common genetic modifications to crops?
 Why do myths arise from GM research?
 What is the problem with the argument against herbicide-resistant crops?
 Are there any legitimate concerns regarding the growing use of GM crops?
Questions related to Paper 2 – Moving beyond
 What are the differences between evolution by natural selection, selective breeding and
genetic modification?
 Do you buy organic foods? Why/why not? What about foods that claim to be free from
artificial chemicals?
 How does the reporting of trials surrounding GM crops affect the view of them?
 Should GM crops be patented (hence preventing farmers from saving seed to replant in
subsequent years)?
 Do you think that fear of the unknown affects people’s opinion of GM food? What could
be done to rectify this?
p. 24
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School
Science Journal Club
Session title: Food security
Session aim: With food availability an increasing global concern, debate the issues
around food security and ethical implications of food production.
Read: Gilbert N., (2010) Inside the hothouses of industry. Nature, 466, 548-551
http://bit.ly/NatureFood
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Which characteristics of plants were first targeted for genetic modification? Why do you
think this was?
Why is the private sector important for meeting the food security challenge?
What is the biggest disadvantage of involving the private sector in global food production?
How is this being challenged?
Why is it important that large food production companies have well resourced Research
and Development departments?
Why is the staple cereal crop different in different parts of the world?
o What effect does the differences in the cereals have?
o What is the staple cereal in the UK?
Why are intellectual property restrictions an issue for global food security?
Do you think the issue of time (i.e. how long it takes to develop new crops) is a problem
that can be overcome in order to increase global food security?
How big a part do you think GM foods will play in global food security for the future?
Session notes:
This session can be run with or without the I’m a Scientist Debate kit. The kit, however, gives
different views that the students may not have considered.
The I’m a Scientist Debate Kit for this topic can be found at: http://bit.ly/IAS_food. The kit
contains eight characters (both for and against limiting food sourcing to inside the UK) and
instructions for how the debate can be staged.
The debate session can be run without the students having read the papers (though they are both
quick to read), as long as they have an understanding of what global food security is and the
potential problems that population growth and over-consumption brings.
During the debate, each student takes on the role of a different character, with different facts and
opinions about the sources of our food, over-consumption and global food security. It is
interesting to find out students’ views on food waste and global food security before the debate
and then discuss how or if additional information changes their opinion. It may also be worth
discussing the role of different sized businesses in food production on a worldwide scale, as well
as the ways that large companies research new biotechnology to enhance food production.
p. 25
Science & Plants for Schools: www.saps.org.uk
Running a Science Journal Club for A-level Students
Dr Sarah Pannell – Lingfield Notre Dame School