It does not seem to matter what newspaper you read these days. Weekly headlines reveal politicians debating stem cells, financing issues over stem cell research, and the advancements in technologies that might prove remarkable for treating and even curing diseases through the use of stem cells. So why does the research of these microscopic units demand our attention? Stem cells have the potential to help humans and anything that can assist us requires our interest, don't you think? Before you develop any type of opinion on stem cells, you need to investigate where research has come from and where we are going.

This WebQuest is designed to introduce you to the key scientists or "pivotal players" in stem cell research. Their discoveries and advancements in technology have helped our knowledge of stem cells evolve into what we know today.

As you work on this lesson, keep in mind that the goal is to answer the following essential questions:

1.  How has the scientific process helped us understand stem cells?

2. Who are the historical figures that have shaped our understanding of  stem cells?

3. What technologies have advanced our knowledge of stem cells?

The Task

Your task requires original thought and proof that you have investigated the topic thoroughly. You and your group will construct a newspaper to discuss the contributions of the following individuals who have been deemed critical to our understanding of stem cells. Your job is to discover WHY. What did each person do that increased our knowledge of stem cells? What technologies were used or invented? In other words, if these people never existed, what would the scientific world be missing?

1.    Leroy Stevens

2.    Robert Briggs

3.    Thomas King

4.    Karl Illmensee

5.    Davor Solter

6.    Steen Willadsen

7.    James Thomson

8.    Ian Wilmut

9.    Rudolf Jaenisch

10. Roy Stevens

11. Beatrice Mintz

12. Gail Martin

13. Martin Evans

14. Anthony Atala

15. Hans Kierstead

16. Konrad Hochedlinger

17. Robert Blelloch

18. Kenneth Chen

19. Joshua Hare

20. Yuval Dor

21. Douglas Melton 

22. Wise Young 

23. Treena Arinzeh

24. Ann Tsukamoto

25. McCulloch and Till

The Process

1.    You will be assigned a group of 5 students.

2.    As a group, decide what each member will contribute to the newspaper. For example: Will there be one leader or two? Who will investigate who? Who will keep the group on task? Who will be the editor of your paper? Who will turn in all the paperwork to the teacher? 

3.    Once your roles have been selected, submit a signed copy of what each member will contribute to the teacher. At the end of this project, all members will be asked to grade one another on how well they contributed to the project.

4.    Begin researching the scientists from the list. Wikipedia, Google and AskJeeves are all great places to start. For each scientist, you should be able to answer the 5 W's and 1H (who, what, when, where, why and how) and find at least one direct quote about the person or from the person.

5.    Aside from answering the 5W's and 1H in your articles you also want to highlight something interesting to your readers about each person.

6.    Save information on each website or book you use so that you can generate your group's annotated bibliography.

7.    Read through different newspapers so that you can decide what type of layout you and your group will pick.

8.    You may want to use the following resources for your newspaper:

Tips on journalism and how to create your own newspaper:

http://www.highschooljournalism.org/

http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/paperprod/create.html

http://www.newscollege.ca/

http://www.journalism.org/resources/j_tools

9.    Make your newspaper! You can utilize Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, or any other program with the permission of the teacher. Perhaps you might want to create your own newspaper online with http://crayon.net/

You and your group will submit both a newspaper and an annotated bibliography by _________________.

Your newspaper should:
-accurately explain the contributions of each scientist
-be graphically pleasing
-consist of several pages
-have clear titles and by lines
-have supporting pictures, drawings or diagrams
-include a crossword puzzle of terms involved with stem cell research

Your newspaper could include:
-obituaries
-editorials
-advertisements
-comics

Your annotated bibliography should:
-consist of at least 25 sources
-contain a citation for each source used for your newspaper in MLA or APA format
-provide provide a brief description of the source's relevance or usefulness (1-2 sentences)

Keep in mind that your newspaper is worth 75% of your grade and the annotated bibliography is worth 25%.

Evaluation
Newspaper Rubric

Conclusion

At the conclusion of this project you now have a much greater understanding of the key scientists involved in stem cell research. Your active participation in this activity has strengthened your researching skills as well. Our understanding of our world is dependent on advancing technologies and collaboration among scientists. By participating in scientific inquiry activities like this, you have experienced what scientists go through to help humanity. We encourage you to seek out opportunities to investigate scientific research even more.

References

These websites will increase your understanding of stem cells and stem cell research:

Stem Cell Resources

NIH Stem Cell Basics

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMDNJ

University of Utah - Stem Cell Spotlight