Newborn screening
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=257
A lesson plan for grade 7 Science
Learn more
Help
Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
In this Science Update, students explore why some doctors are calling for national testing standards for newborns. In some states, every newborn baby gets a blood test that can detect more than thirty serious diseases. Geneticist Piero Rinaldo of the Mayo Clinic has developed uniform standards for newborn screening, and he and his colleagues are calling on the federal government to adopt them since there are huge discrepancies from state to state. In order for uniform standards to be adopted, either the states themselves would have to agree to it, or the federal government would have to step in and require standardization. Either route may be fraught with conflict and delay. However, Rinaldo argues that every moment that’s wasted could threaten another young life. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about why there aren’t uniform standards in place for newborn screening and the difficulties involved in turning a state public health law into a national law. This activity also contains links to “The Newborn Genetic and Metabolic Disease Screening” page of The National Conference of State Legislatures and the U.S. government’s site for the newborn screening task force.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 7
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 5: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to build an understanding of heredity and genetics.
- Objective 5.04: Analyze the role of probability in the study of heredity:
- Role of each parent in transfer of genetic traits.
- Analysis of pedigrees.
- Objective 5.04: Analyze the role of probability in the study of heredity:
