pgEd is thrilled to be travelling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin this June to lead a teacher training at the “Genes, Genomes and Personalized Medicine” workshop being organized by our friends at The Center for BioMolecular Modeling.  We will be training a group of teachers from all over the United States about pgEd’s materials and approach, and will highlight a number of our lessons that focus on athletics, crime, personalized medicine, and we will also be sharing a few new lessons for Summer 2013 – stay tuned for more on that front on the next few weeks!  

In conjunction with the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College, pgEd will be offering a summer workshop about teaching the ethical, legal and social issues in personal genetics.  Several lessons will be introduced and curricular materials will be shared. The fee is $50 and teachers will receive 6 PDPs.  To register or for more information, please contact Alyssa Walker at 508-626-4057 or awalker4@framingham.edu

Professional Development for High School Teachers
July 17-18, 2013; 9:30-4:00
Boston, MA
Earn 12 PDPs for the two-day session
Cost: $30 (scholarships available)

Personal Genetics in the High School Classroom: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues

Current high school students are among the first generation that will have unprecedented access to information about their DNA, as genome sequencing and genetic testing become cheaper and more available.  We create interactive lessons that engage students in discussions about the potential risks and benefits of knowing more about your DNA, as well as ways in which they could be impacted.

This two-day training for teachers will be an introduction to personal genetics and its impact on society. A wave of personal genetic information is coming – how can we prepare students to make informed choices for themselves and for society as a whole?

Through workshop-style sessions, we will look at examples of the hopes, realities and controversies in personal genetics.  We will start with an overview: Why is genetics getting more personal?  How will the flood of genetic testing impact this generation? Through our lessons, we make connections to real world opportunities and conundrums your students and their families will face in the coming years.

Topics to be covered: Advances in personal genetics, the intersection of athletics and genetics, genetics and aggression/complex human behavior, reproductive genetics, low cost genetic testing, fears and realities of genetic discrimination, crime and DNA, and critical thinking as it applies to assessing genetic risk factors. Curricular materials and articles will be provided.

Content Area:  Biology, Health, Social Studies, Genetics, and Bioethics; grades 9 – 12

For more information or to register, email Lauren Tomaselli at ltomaselli@pged.med.harvard.edu or call (617) 432-1797.

Dana will be participating in MDIBL’s Summer Academy in Genomics this August in Mount Desert Island, Maine, for the third year.  The week long course led by Dr. Charlie Wray welcomes high school students from all over the state of Maine for a week of intensive and creative work in the lab, using a number of different approaches to analyzing DNA. pgEd will lead a series of discussions and workshops on a broad range of social and ethical issues related to genetics.  We also are going to do a science cafe while in the neighborhood!

Dana will be leading a Science Cafe – an informal conversation in a relaxed, fun environment – about personal genetics this summer.  Part of Mount Desert Island’s efforts to engage a wide audience about science, we are happy to be part of what looks to be a really great roster of people and topics.  Drop in if you are in the neighborhood on August 12th.

pgEd is thrilled to be presenting at the annual conference of the  National Council for Social Studies in St. Louis, MO, on November 22-23.  Our talk is titled, “Genetics Gets Personal: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Genetics”.  Several of our lesson plans are interdisciplinary and we are looking forward to sharing these lessons with teachers from all over the country. More details about the conference can be found here.