Unit 1: Genetic engineering

-Objetivos generales:

*Conocer el tema para poder expresar opiniones a favor o en contra del mismo.

*Debatir los beneficios y perjuicios del uso de la gentica en la sociedad actualidad.

-Objetivos especficos:

Despus de trabajar en este proyecto los alumnos/as podrn:

Entender textos orales y escritos sobre ciencias, especialmente sobre ingeniera

gentica, clonacin, etc.
Interactuar para expresar su opinin sobre el tema.
Producir texto sintetizador.

-Tarea final: Creacin de PPP o afiche sobre lo aprendido en clase.

_______________________________________________________________________________

1) BRAINSTORMING IDEAS:

-Whats genetics and genetic engineering?

-What do you know about it? What is it used for?
-In your opinion: Is the use of genetics good or bad? Are you in favour of or against
its use?

2) Listen and take notes. Then copy the whole sentence and see whether Sts knew this
info before. Did they know Mendel and his activity?

Genetic engineering is based on genetics, a science which begun in the early

1900s but based on experiments carried out in the mid-1800s by the Austrian
monk, Gregor Mendel.

3) Listen Mendels biography and take notes. Then, listen and complete its biography with
the missing words (check the meaning and sound of the words so its easier to identify
them).

Pea plants experiments - monastery generations - dominant - Mathematics

Genetics Abbot receptive heredity -

Gregor Mendel was a Czech-German monk who was responsible for the invention of the
science of Genetics. Mendel was born in Czechoslovakia. He was the son of a poor family
of farmers. Mendel was a good student at school but his family was too poor to send him
to university so he was sent to a monastery in Brnn. He moved to Austria to study
Mathematics and Science but failed his exams for a teaching degree and returned to the
monastery where he became the Abbot. The monastery had a large garden and as Mendel
was a keen gardener he began to notice interesting patterns in the garden pea plants that
were growing there. Mendel noticed that the pea plants inherited certain characteristics
from their parent plants. Over the next seven years Mendel carried out a huge number of
experiments on pea plants and developed his law of heredity which is the bases of all
modern genetics. Mendels experiments showed that some characteristics were receptive
and some were dominant. There are different patterns of characteristics in different
generations of plants. He realized that the different information for these characters had to
 be part of the plants themselves what we now know to be genes. Mendels work was so
revolutionary that it was more or less ridiculous when it was published in 1965. In the early
20th century, when scientists rediscovered the traits that Mendel had published, his
incredible contributions to the science of Genetics and Heredity were fully realized.

4) Read the text and answer the questions:

-Who was Gregor Mendel?

-What was he responsible for?
-Was he a good student?
-Did he go to university?
-Where did he go?
-What did he do in Austria?
-Did he get a teaching degree?
-Where did he return?
-What did he become?
-What did he develop?
-What did his experiments show?

5) Read the quotation and say how it is related to the last part of the text youve read.
Copy your conclusions. Translate the quotation.

I thought that I had found something new. But then I convinced myself that the
Abbot Gregor Mendel in Brnn, had, during the sixties, not only obtained the same
result through extensive experiments with peas, which lasted for many years, as
did de Vries and I, but had also given exactly the same explanation, as far as that
was possible in 1866.

CARL ERICH CORRENS, 1864 TO 1933 (Geneticist and Botanist)

6) Read and answer:

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering is the term applied to techniques that alter the genes (hereditary
material) or combination of genes in an organism. The cells of all living organisms
contain genes. Genes carry chemical information that determines the organisms
characteristics. By changing an organisms gene, scientists can give the organism and
its descendants different traits.

Genes and disease prevention

Genetic engineering has important uses in fields such as medicine, industry and
agriculture. By using different techniques, scientists can test DNA isolated from cells of
unborn babies to learn whether the babies will have a disease.

Genetic therapy can be applied to cure diseases. In those cases, the DNA of a virus can
be modified by replacing the disease-causing genes of the patient with healthy human
genes. The modified viruses become vehicles to replace defective genes with normal
genes. This method may help doctors, treat, for example, some liver diseases. Other
techniques introduce genes into cancer cells of the patient to make them more
vulnerable to drugs that can kill them.

Genetic engineering has been used to improve the efficiency of food production and it
also has a potential for controlling pollution. Researchers are working to develop
genetically engineering microorganisms that break down rubbish, toxic substances, and
other wastes. Numerous plants have been genetically engineering for different
purposes, for example, to resist disease or injury from herbicides, insects or viruses; to
produce small amounts of a biodegradable plastic; and to produce antibodies for
potential use in medicines. With genetically engineering hormones, dairy cows, produce
-Whats genetic engineering?

-What do genes carry?

-What fields is genetics used in?

-What can be applied to cure diseases?

-How is the DNA of a virus modified?

-What has genetic engineering been used for?

-What are the purposes of modifying plants?

-How do genetically modify hormones affect farming?

7) Cloning: Is it a good or a bad use of Genetics?

-What do you know about cloning? What do you think about it?

-Listen and take notes. Then, listen and complete the text with the missing verbs. Check.

had worked had chosen - had died (2) hadnt progressed - had created -

Cloning

Woolly mammoth had died thousands of years before scientists discovered that they
could clone them and bring them back to life.

Scientists had worked on cloning for a long time. Using this technique they could
produce an identical duplicate of an original organism. Although they had created
several animals in this way, their first great achievement occurred in 1996 when they
produced the first cloned mammal, a sheep they called Dolly which was born on the
July 5th.

Cloning hadnt progressed so much before! After that magnificent event scientists
wanted to clone a woolly mammoth from the DNA of a woolly mammoth which had died
in Siberia about 20.000 years before! Why had scientists chosen a woolly mammoth?
Because its DNA is similar to an elephants. So they would be able to transplant the
mammoth cell into the womb of a modern-day female elephant.
-Deduce: what do all the verbs have in common? Translate them. This is the Past Perfect
Tense. It is form by ________ + _______ ____________. It refers to a past event that occurred
before another past event.

-Past perfect tense. Copy the structure of its affirmative, negative and interrogative form
and give examples.

-Complete a chart with verbs in present, past and past participle forms (photocopy the
irregular verbs chart).

-Answer questions about cloning:

When had mammoths died?

Who had worked on cloning for a long time?

What could they produce using this technique?

What had they created?

When was their first achievement?

What did they produce?

Had cloning progressed so much before?

What did scientists want?

Where had the mammoth died?

When had it died?

Why had scientists chosen a woolly mammoth?

 Gregor Mendel was a Czech-
German monk who was responsible for the
invention of the science of ______________.
Mendel was born in Czechoslovakia. He
was the son of a poor family of farmers. Mendel was a good student at school but his
family was too poor to send him to university so he was sent to a ______________ in Brnn.
He moved to Austria to study ______________ and Science but failed his exams for a
teaching degree and returned to the monastery where he became the ______________. The
monastery had a large garden and as Mendel was a keen gardener he began to notice
interesting patterns in the garden pea plants that were growing there. Mendel noticed that
the _______________________ inherited certain characteristics from their parent plants. Over
the next seven years Mendel carried out a huge number of experiments on pea plants and
developed his law of heredity which is the bases of all modern genetics. Mendels
___________________ showed that some characteristics were _________________and some
were _________________. There are different patterns of characteristics in different
_________________ of plants. He realized that the different information for these characters
had to be part of the plants themselves what we now know to be genes. Mendels work
was so revolutionary that it was more or less ridiculous when it was published in 1965. In
the early 20th century, when scientists
rediscovered the traits that Mendel had
published, his incredible contributions to
the science of genetics and
___________________ were fully realized.

Gregor Mendel was a Czech-

German monk who was responsible for the invention of the science of ______________.
Mendel was born in Czechoslovakia. He was the son of a poor family of farmers. Mendel
was a good student at school but his family was too poor to send him to university so he
was sent to a ______________ in Brnn. He moved to Austria to study ______________ and
Science but failed his exams for a teaching degree and returned to the monastery where
he became the ______________. The monastery had a large garden and as Mendel was a
keen gardener he began to notice interesting patterns in the garden pea plants that were
growing there. Mendel noticed that the _______________________ inherited certain
characteristics from their parent plants. Over the next seven years Mendel carried out a
huge number of experiments on pea plants and developed his law of heredity which is the
bases of all modern genetics. Mendels ___________________ showed that some
characteristics were _________________and some were _________________. There are different
patterns of characteristics in different _________________ of plants. He realized that the
different information for these characters had to be part of the plants themselves what we
now know to be genes. Mendels work was so revolutionary that it was more or less
ridiculous when it was published in 1965. In the early 20 th century, when scientists
rediscovered the traits that Mendel had published, his incredible contributions to the
science of genetics and ___________________ were fully realized.
 Cloning

Woolly mammoth __________________ thousands of years before scientists discovered that

they could clone them and bring them back to life.

Scientists ____________________ on cloning for a long time. Using this technique they could
produce an identical duplicate of an original organism. Although they ___________________
several animals in this way, their first great achievement occurred in 1996 when they
produced the first cloned mammal, a sheep they called Dolly which was born on the July
5th.

Cloning ___________________ so much before! After that magnificent event scientists wanted
to clone a woolly mammoth from the DNA of a woolly mammoth which _______________ in
Siberia about 20.000 years before! Why __________ scientists _________________a woolly
mammoth? Because its DNA is similar to an elephants. So they would be able to
transplant the mammoth cell into the womb of a modern-day female elephant.

Cloning

Woolly mammoth __________________ thousands of years before scientists discovered that

they could clone them and bring them back to life.

Scientists ____________________ on cloning for a long time. Using this technique they could
produce an identical duplicate of an original organism. Although they ___________________
several animals in this way, their first great achievement occurred in 1996 when they
produced the first cloned mammal, a sheep they called Dolly which was born on the July
5th.

Cloning ___________________ so much before! After that magnificent event scientists wanted
to clone a woolly mammoth from the DNA of a woolly mammoth which _______________ in
Siberia about 20.000 years before! Why __________ scientists _________________a woolly
mammoth? Because its DNA is similar to an elephants. So they would be able to
transplant the mammoth cell into the womb of a modern-day female elephant.
Cloning

Woolly mammoth __________________ thousands of years before scientists discovered that

they could clone them and bring them back to life.

Scientists ____________________ on cloning for a long time. Using this technique they could
produce an identical duplicate of an original organism. Although they ___________________
several animals in this way, their first great achievement occurred in 1996 when they
produced the first cloned mammal, a sheep they called Dolly which was born on the July
5th.

Cloning ___________________ so much before! After that magnificent event scientists wanted
to clone a woolly mammoth from the DNA of a woolly mammoth which _______________ in
Siberia about 20.000 years before! Why __________ scientists _________________a woolly
mammoth? Because its DNA is similar to an elephants. So they would be able to
transplant the mammoth cell into the womb of a modern-day female elephant.