Trying to transplant
| National Curriculum links (Key Stage
4 double science) |
Sc1
1c |
... ways in which scientific work may be affected
by the contexts in which it takes place (for example. social, historical,
moral and spiritual) and how these contexts may affect whether or
not ideas are accepted |
Sc1
1d |
... to consider the power and limitations of science
in addressing industrial, social ... questions including the kinds
of questions science can and cannot answer … and the ethical
issues involved |
Sc2
1e |
... to relate ways in which animals and plants function
as organisms to cell structure and activity |
Sc2
2b |
... the structure of the human circulatory system |
Sc2
2m |
... how waste products of body functions are removed
by the lungs and the kidneys |
Sc2
2n |
... how kidneys regulate the water content of the
blood |
Sc2
2p |
... the defence mechanisms of the body … |
Resources
Trying to transplant
looks at the obstacles that had to be overcome before successful transplants
became possible.
Transplanting kidneys
contains a brief look at the history of transplanting kidneys.
The big one - transplanting
hearts provides background information about heart transplants.
Stem cell research
looks at the possible solutions to the problem caused by the shortage
of organ donors. There is a brief mention of xenotransplantation, although
the main focus is on stem cell research.
The organ transplants
timeline gives a historical perspective on transplantation going
back to the earliest days of Susrata long before the birth of Christ.
Activities
There are four sets of activities linked with these resources :
| Set 1 |
- Writing an article with the title Organ transplants - the
power and the limitations of science. This activity is designed
to lead students into the rest of the material here, by asking
them to consider both the power of science to overcome the problems
of organ failure and the limitations due to things such as lack
of donors and ethical objections to new developments such as
xenotransplantation and stem cell research.
|
| Set 2 |
- Students are asked to think about why heart transplants were
regarded as such a massive step forward and why they still have
something of a mystique about them for many people - which is
probably not the case for kidney transplants.
|
| Set 3 |
- Producing a short speech either supporting the funding
of stem cell research for use in organ transplants and other
medical procedures or calling for the banning of stem
cell research on ethical grounds. In both cases students should
use scientific information to support their arguments. This
exercise could be set up as a class debate, or discussed in
small groups with a full class plenary to share views and explore
differences of opinion.
|
| Set 4 |
- Students consider and try to explain why most of the developments
in transplant surgery have taken place in the last fifty years
- Students choose one of the events from the timeline and do
further research on it using the Internet. They then produce
a newspaper article about that particular scientific advance
designed both to interest and inform readers.
|
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