Looking for activities about the genetics of "race"

[Stacy Baker]

So every year I bring up the topic of race and how there really isn't such a thing as race to geneticists. That differences found in groups of people are merely adaptations to different environmental pressures. Last year I decided to connect it with MLK day by writing a blog post that the students commented on.

This year I decided to make it a full day activity and I'm looking for suggestions. I'm going to discuss the stuff mentioned in my previous post as well as information found in Survival of the Sickest's chapter called "The Cholesterol also rises". But, I'm looking for some hands-on or small group activities that explore science and race/racism. Please let me know if you have any!

I created an Animoto trailer for it (which is my new way to grab the students' attention and amuse myself at the same time).

[Michael Doyle]

Thanks for sharing this, and I may steal your trailer for MLK Day here.

Race came up in discussion today, as it often does--our school reflects a kaleidoscope of peoples, so much so that it's not unusual to hear kids have discussions trying to figure out exactly where they fit in.

I don't have a whole lot to offer, but only seemed fair to thank you for what you've posted here.

[Stacy Baker]

You're welcome! My school is sadly less diverse. Please share what your students have to say about this topic here.

[Elissa Hoffman]

Cool stuff - like Michael, I'm not sure I have much to offer, but it strikes me that you could do some modification of the AP Bio population genetics lab - the part where the class divides into small islands and you compare rate of evolution in each one would be kind of like evolution of the human race over time, wouldn't it?

Also, I really like doing an activity about genetic diversity called "The Gene Scene: Giraffes". It was put out by World Wildlife Foundation a few years ago in hard copy form and now exists as an online game. It focuses on the need for genetic diversity in a population & how it affects the evolution of the population over time.

Not sure how much either idea really fits your needs, but thought I'd throw them out there!

[Stacy Baker]

Yeah, that sounds great! I tried the giraffe game. Pretty fun! I only ended up with 3 giraffes so I need some practice. :-)

[Sean Nash]

1. I love this topic. I am going to do some searching with you on this one. I have some ideas, but nothing solid to just upload.

2. I'm with Michael... this video is slick. I have yet to mess with Animoto since the text feature was added. Should be interesting. This little clip makes me wonder what a little creative writing would to with some stills & tunes... wow. also- add this sucker's embed code to the video section to allow one more way for people to find it. Please?
;-)

[Stacy Baker]

I just received an email from Animoto. It appears that they now are giving you the option to control the speed of the video better! Yes! That was my biggest complaint.

[Sean Nash]

I know, very good ===>

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2. Animoto iPhone App
Create Animoto video shorts on-the-go with our new, free iPhone app. Just snap photos and use the app to turn them into vids right there on your phone. Birthdays, nights out in the city, your irresistible new puppy, at a restaurant with friends…anything you have/take pics of! (Btw--works for iPod Touch, too.) http://iphone.animoto.com

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[SVK]

Here are two websites that might help you:

http://www.understandingrace.org/

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm

Also, there is a PBS series called African American Lives. The third part if about genographic studies that look at the genetics of race. Here is a link to that. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/dna/index.html

Scientific American Decemeber 2003 has an article called Does Race Exist?

Hope this helps,

[Stacy Baker]

Thanks for the great links! I'll have to search for the Scientific American article.

I plan on using Harvard's Project Implicit and assigning it as homework the day before our discussion. If you haven't tried one of their tests, they are quite good.

[Sean Nash]

Stacy-

Have you seen the book, Biology Inquiries, by Martin Shields?

There is an interesting and very simple little lesson within (p. 150) that is entitled: "Are Humans still Evolving?"
There is a solid little table that provides a list of items for consideration/differentiation/debate such as:
-pinky toe getting smaller or disappearing
-"wisdom teeth" disappearing
-average human height
-skin color/race
-etc...

Of course these may or may not be examples of evolution at work. Some may be easily explained away as differences in nutrition & health care, etc. Anyway- decent set of questions that go along with this lesson that begins with student selection of topics & journal writing.

This is a decent little book on a wide spread of biology topics.

[Tom Wanamaker]

Another resource to look at is Sencer Wells' video program, "The Journey of Man" and the companion National Geographic "National Genographic Project" website, which is at:

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

I participated in the project and had my Y chromosome searced for markers. It offered no big surprises -- I'm a white guy whose forefathers came from northern Europe -- but it was still cool. I shared my data with a woman whose mtDNA originated in central America. Since I teach a genetics class, I though it would be more interesting for the kids to trace a couple of actual people's data. It would be awesome for your students to get sequenced and then go to the computer lab together to let them trace their family history, but it costs about $100. If anyone wants my access code to check it out, let me know.

[Colin Matheson]

I had my students engage in an online discussion about controversial issues in genetics, they had to answer whether or not a perceived racial trait was real and whether this trait was a result of nature/nurture/combo.
The topics were:
Are African Americans better at sports
Are Asian Americans better at school
Are Eastern European Jews better at school
Are Native Americans more likely to be alcoholic
Is being Gay biological
They had to include a link to a source that informed their post, and they had to reply to another post by disagreeing (with sources) or extending (with sources).
The discussions helped them see the complexity of the issues and helped me see if they had faulty thinking about genetics.