Having finished my Signature project, I am happy with the way this year and with the way the showcase went.
One of my positive experiences was having the opportunity to work with Madame Sanwal, whom I am very grateful for and who has helped me immensely throughout the process. I especially appreciated being able to meet with her biweekly to discuss my project while practicing my French conversational skills. Something that surprised me about this year overall was the direction in which my project went. At the beginning of the year, I did not know what I wanted to do for my project other than that I wanted it to involve science, so I am pleasantly surprised that it ended up being about genetics, which is a topic that fascinates me greatly.
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Recently, I've been spending a lot of time preparing for the end of my project. I've been communicating with my liaison, Madame Sanwal, regarding my plans, and I am working on wrapping up my project. I've finished creating the lesson plan, as well as the discussion questions and worksheet to go along with it, and I'm hoping to teach the lesson to a French IV class by the end of the month.
I am curious to see what kind of background in biology the students I'm teaching already have, and I am very interested in seeing what other students have to say about the ethics of human genome modification. As a debater, I am used to being prepared to argue any side of a case, so I tend not to lean one side or another on some topics including this one. However, I believe that there are valid arguments both for and against, so I'm curious to see what others have to say. Voici des questions que j'ai écrit pour discuter quand j'enseignera ma leçon:
Je vais peut-être écrire plus, mais je ne sais pas à ce moment. Ce mois, je travaille plus sur la leçon que j'enseignera au sujet des génétiques et des modifications génétiques. J'ai décidé avec Madame Sanwal que j'enseignera la Français IV, mais j'ai encore besoin de trouver un jour pour la leçon. Maintenant, je travaille sur la présentation pour la leçon, et après, je travaillera sur des questions pour la discussion. Je pense que je veux preparer des questions pour discuter, mais j'espère que les étudiants ont beaucoup de choses à dire.
Below is a list of some of the French vocabulary (and English translations) that I have come across in my research and creating a lesson, though I am still adding to the list as I continue to work. As mentioned in my previous post, many of these words and phrases are cognates with their respective English words.
Acide désoxyribonucléique (ADN) = deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Acide ribonucléique (ARN) = ribonucleic acid (RNA) Acide aminé = amino acid Génome (m.) = the genome L’expression du gène = gene expression Modifier = to modify Une base azotée = a nitrogenous base Hériter = to inherit Héritabilité/héréditaire = heritability/inheritable Allèle (m.) = an allele Allèle dominant = dominant allele Allèle recessif = recessive allele Phénotype (m.) = phenotype Génotype (m.) = genotype Hétérozygote = heterozygous/heterozygote Homozygote = homozygous/homozygote Mutation (f.) = mutation Nucléotide (m.) = nucleotide At this point, I am very nearly halfway done with my project.
As per my timeline proposed at the beginning of my project, I have finished my initial research and am working on completing my presentation, which will be used as the basis of my lesson. I've also been compiling a list of vocabulary associated with the science I will be discussing, which I believe will be helpful for students to understand. Additionally, I have begun research on the ethical side of my project, and I look forward to learning more. My timeline for the rest of my project will remain the same. This month, I have been working more on the learning the vocabulary needed to discuss biology (and specifically genetics) in French. A majority of the vocabulary is pretty straightforward to learn, as many of the French words are cognates of words used in English. However, given the grammatical structure of the French language, some words are translated somewhat like cognates though still different. For example, in English, “DNA” stands for “deoxyribonucleic acid,” but when translated to French becomes “acide désoxyribonucléique,” or “ADN.”
In my lesson later in the year, I plan to discuss vocabulary like this and connect it back to the grammatical structures of French that we learn in French I and II. Duboule, D. (2020, March 24). Modifications du génome : En route vers le trans-humanisme ? YouTube. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgzfJvkXXUs
In this lecture, Swiss-French biologist Denis Duboule discusses the mechanisms and possibilities of genetic modifications. He also touches on the transhumanist implications of human genome modification. This recorded source is from 2020, so it is very recent, and it is by a genetics and genomics professor with a doctorate in biology. This source is very relevant and helpful to my project; the discussion of genetics in French allows me to be more exposed to the vocabulary and jargon used in French, and the discussion on ethics and transhumanism is useful as a starting point for further research. Johnson, T. (2021, November 24). Quelles Limites fixer à l'amélioration génétique de l'être humain ? The Conversation. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/quelles-limites-fixer-a-lamelioration-genetique-de-letre-humain-158693 In this article, Tess Johnson, a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford, discusses various ethical arguments for and against genetic modification. She also brings up different types of modification, namely those that only benefit an individual—such as modifications in height—and those that benefit a society—such as improvements to the human immune system, as well as the ethical implications of these specific types of modifications. This source is very relevant to my project, as it uses economics to discuss the ethics of modifications for an individual vs. the collective good, which I’ll be able to use for further research and in my final presentation. This article was written within the past year and published on April 9, 2021, thus making it very recent. After a bit of a hiatus in working on my Signature project in December due to college applications and Revels, I've finally had the chance to begin catching up on my project.
Over break, I read an interesting article that got me thinking more about the ethics of genetic modification. In particular, this article used economics—which interests me as I'm currently taking AP economics—to discuss the ethics of modifications that benefit the whole society vs. those that benefit an individual. However, it makes sense that modifications that benefit an entire society, such as improvements to the human immune system, could be more morally permissible than those that benefit an individual, in the way that vaccinations and immunizations ultimately benefit an entire society. I'm excited to keep exploring the ethics of modification, and I wonder if I can even tie more philosophy, such as utilitarian vs. libertarian ways of approaching genetic modification. As part of my Signature Language project, I have regular meetings with my project liaison, Madame Sanwal, in French. I enjoy having these meetings as they give me the opportunity to practice discussing the topics that I have been exploring through my research. They also allow me to continue practicing my French conversational skills, which is helpful since I’m no longer taking a French course that allows me to regularly speak French.
Meeting with Madame Sanwal also helps me practice explaining biological concepts relating to genetic modification, which I anticipate having to do when I present my lesson. In our upcoming meeting, I hope to have a more in-depth discussion with her on the ethics of genetic modification. |
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