Wondering How Science Teachers Deal With This

[ChildOfTheLight]

Okay, I once posted a similar topic to this about condom use, but this in my mind is different.

I may teach in a grade nine science class next year (well, okay, student teach) and the curriculum requires offering knowledge about genetic engineering.

Now, I know the church is not opposed to all genetic engineering (only embryotic stem cell research and human cloning). I hear they are powerful advocats for adult stem cell research.

Anyone know how flexible school curriculums are? Should I focus on animal and ethical research (or will I even have a choice)? Would it be permissible to mention in passing embryotic stem cell research, without going into detail? Would I be capable of skipping it all together or are the topics very picked for teachers and they get no say? Can teachers choose what topics to focus on?

It seems this is different than the condom teaching topic as I would not be teaching exactly how (just in general), nor would I be overtly stating it is okay.

The curriculum guide just says they need to have an understanding of what genetic research has changed the world and the contributions to science. So I’m not even sure if the particualr currriculum will even have stem cell research.

Obviously, catholics can teach science, nothing against that, so what do they (or teachers of any other topic) do in the case where they come across an immoral topic?

Some advice (especially from teachers) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[1ke]

These are questions specific to your state and school district, and your cooperating teacher.

In general, teachers have a lot of lattitude, but individual school districts do things differently.

 

[mcteague]

It will take a while to explain the basics of genetics and the history of the field before you even reach DNA. You know all that pea pod stuff. Once you get there, and cover how it was discovered, you can begin discussing how the human genome was decoded. This is important because it shows the use and importance of probability in science. Now you can talk about the process of DNA transmission.
DNA > RNA > Amino acid
Now you can finally begin to talk a little about genetic engineering.
Starting with food products and finally getting to issues of animals and humans. Possible medical advancements and things like that.
But now you also have the opportunity to touch on the subject of medical ethics, and ethics in science. You don’t necessarily have to tell the students what is right or wrong. But you can get them to ask themselves how they feel about it. And to realize that science is not necessarally completely separate from those sorts of questions.
Well look at that. Your nineth graders are almost ready for grad school. Meaning there is actually a lot of material to cover before you even get to issues that might be slightly problematic for you. So I would not worry to much

 

[mcteague]

FYI. That’s DNA transcription not transmission.