Lesson 2 – Bioengineering and Sustainability

Description: This lesson has 3 elements: a jigsaw team reading activity, a guided case study with questions and a teacher-led section, and a current event writing project. Students gain more knowledge on sustainable fuels and consider the promise of algae and bioengineering through reading, discussion, writing, and presenting their new knowledge. This lesson also includes 2 optional lab experiments on algae and bioremediation as well as environmental effects on gene expression.

Please note – some of the hyperlinks are not available in these lessons for both Google and Microsoft version. There should be at least one of them available. If you have issues and need a file that is not accessible please email us at see@isbscience.org. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Objectives

COURSE: Life Science, Environmental Science, Integrated Science, STEM, BioChem

UNIT:  Photosynthesis, Ecology, Biogeochemical Cycling, Genetics

OBJECTIVES: See the Standards Addressed page for information about the published standards and process we use when aligning lessons with NGSS and other Science, Math, Literacy and 21st Century skills). Here is a document that displays all NGSS for this module. In addition to the aligned objectives listed in buttons on the upper-left of this page and in the table below, for this lesson, here is a breakdown of:

What students learn:
  • Students review the basics of the central dogma and apply that knowledge to bioengineering.
  • Students learn what a gene regulatory network is and how it is involved in gene expression.
  • Students explore a current event related to bioengineering and present their findings.

 

What students do:
  • Students make connections between biofuels, gene regulatory networks, and the central dogma with a jigsaw activity and case studies.
  • Students set up and start data collection for a lab(s) investigating one or more of the following: bioremediation, carbon sequestration, or the effect of the environment on gene expression.
  • Students write and present a paper about a current event relating to the theme of bioengineering and sustainability.
Aligned Next Generation Science Standards
All three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards are addressed in this lesson. Please note that based on what part of this lesson you emphasize with students, you will cover different NGSS to different levels. Based on what is possible, we have listed here and in the buttons on the left the NGSS that are make the most sense to integrate and emphasize with this content. Please note that in the buttons on the left there are more SEPs and CCCs listed than in the chart below. That is because these other SEPs and CCCs are covered when students complete their algae experiments which span the entire length of the module.

Performance expectations:

HS-LS1-1 – Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins, which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

HS-LS2-7 – Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

HS-LS3-1 – Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

HS-ESS3-4 – Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.

HS-ETS1-3 – Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and tradeoffs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

Science and Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

SEP-4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution. 

SEP-6: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

SEP-7: Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Evaluate the claims, evidence, and/or reasoning behind currently accepted explanations or solutions to determine the merits of arguments. 

SEP-8: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Critically read scientific literature adapted for classroom use to determine the central ideas or conclusions, and/or to obtain scientific and/or technical information to summarize complex evidence, concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.

LS1.A: Structure and Function

All cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA molecules. Genes are regions in the DNA that contain the instructions that code for the formation of proteins, which carry out most of the work of cells.

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

Moreover, anthropogenic changes (induced by human activity) in the environment – including habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change – can disrupt an ecosystem and threaten the survival of some species.

LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits

DNA carries instructions for forming species’ characteristics. Each cell in an organism has the same genetic content, but genes expressed by cells can differ.

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

Sustainability of human societies and of the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources, including the development of technologies.

CCC-2: Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human-designed systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the systems. 

CCC-6: Structure and Function

The functions and properties of natural and designed objects and systems can be inferred from their overall structure, the way their components are shaped and used, and the molecular substructures of their various materials.

CCC-7: Stability and Change

Feedback (negative or positive) can stabilize or destabilize a system.