Part V. Inquiry on Sickle Cell Anemia.
Students organize into groups, choose a scenario, and each group should discuss, investigate, and then present findings and generate further questions:
Scenario I. Imagine that you are a parent who has just been notified that your new baby has tested positive for sickle cell anemia.
- Generate at least FIVE questions that a parent might have for the genetic counselor.
- Then use some of the web resources below as a starting point to get some answers to those questions.
- Groups share results with whole class.
- List some unanswered questions that remain.
Scenario II. Imagine that you are the genetic counselor for the parents in scenario I – how would you answer some of the following questions:
1. How would you describe the inheritance of sickle cell trait to the parents.
2. How would you give the family information about the risk of having another child with sickle cell disease if they have another baby.
3. What is the risk of being a carrier for the next baby?
4. Draw a pedigree (family tree) for this family indicating who might be carriers of sickle cell trait.
5. Develop some tools (diagrams, pictures, illustrations) to explain the inheritance of sickle cell trait to the family.
6. What are some of the signs and symptoms of sickle cell anemia?
7. What treatments are available for sickle cell anemia?
Groups share answers with the whole class.
Web resources