This unit is designed to help students understand how simple daily decisions like what they eat or reading food labels can affect their future. Students will understand the pros and cons of genetically engineered foods. First, they will learn about what it means to genetically modify a plant or animal. Surprisingly, this is a very simple concept to communicate based on common day-to-day things. An analogy can be made to modifying a brick wall by replacing a few bricks with some other bricks. How does this impact the overall structure and how does it depend on what has been replaced? Can we expect that the structure remains the same and what changed and how will it affect everything else. In the same manner, I intend to tackle the subject with my students. Specifically, students investigate genetically modified seeds and non-genetically modified seeds, observe their growth and test the water and soil quality of each type prior to and after planting. In this, students will observe that although visually the genetically modified plant grows quicker and fuller, it is not the healthy choice when it comes to human consumption and the environment. This will be determined by the variations noted in the results of the soil and water testing. Students will focus on the dangers that genetically modified organisms pose to our health, particularly on human body systems and disease as they research the impact that antibiotics and pesticides have on the immune system and how altering nature's cycle can change an ecosystem permanently.
The students will recognize themselves as consumers and take responsibility for making informed decisions such as whether to buy foods that contain genetically modified ingredients or not. Field trips to a grocery store, a farm and inviting scientists to come to the class to discuss environmental and water safety in places GM crops are just a few of the engaging opportunities that students will be awarded as they recognize through food tastings that GM food may not look or taste different, but it's what they can't see that counts. Some genetically engineered foods pose health risks as an increase in toxins and allergens. Students will investigate various case studies that showing that inhaled Bt corn pollen can trigger disease in humans as well how the simple grazing on GM crops resulted in the deaths of sheep and cows.
This unit will be taught over an eight week period. Weeks one and two will focus on what genetically engineering food is, its history and how it affects us personally as consumers. Students will compare and contrast samples of genetically modified foods with those that have not been modified. Students will learn how to read food labels, discuss their importance and note whether or not an ingredient listed on the label has been modified and begin to question why certain foods are modified and what those modifications imply. They will understand this concept through an in depth study of DNA, genes and the human body systems as it relates to an ecosystem and the life cycles of plants from seed to table. Students will comprehend DNA as the building blocks of life through an analogy of using Legos, that when you change one piece by replacing it with another, it can then cause a domino effect where other changes result as well.
During week three, students will delve deeper into the health risks that GMOs pose to the human body. They will study the various body systems, paying close attention to the immune system and understand how the body recognizes foreign objects and defends itself against them in an effort to protect against sickness and disease. Week four will continue to address the human body systems but introduce the health risks and potential for disease that GMOs cause. Students will recognize what the hygiene hypothesis is and its role in the changes the last few decades have undergone in our pursuit of a sterile, germ-free lifestyle. The idea explains that if your child is not exposed at a young age to various forms of bacteria, the immune system does not develop immunity to it to protect you later in life, and as you get older the body recognizes the bacteria being introduced as foreign and activates an immune response. This is one theory that supports the rise of allergies.
Weeks five through eight will find the students planting genetically modified and non- genetically modified corn and soybean seeds and observing their growth. Students will examine these seeds in particular because soy and corn dominate the United States market in terms of their percent of modifications. In 2012, 88 % of corn and 94 % of soy grown had been modified. Additionally, corn is a core ingredient in many different products beyond food. GM corn not only impacts health, but spurs other effects. This is related to the "Law of Unintended Consequence," which states that the actions of people and/or government and regulations always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. These effects generally stem from economics. The connection with GM corn and soy is clear. By modifying crops to produce more, farmers make more money but the unintended consequences to our health and the environment are only now coming to light. In addition to noting the similarities and differences, students will now look at the environmental impact of genetically engineered seeds. Prior to planting, students will test the water quality and soil quality. After having observed the plant growth for at least three weeks, students will test the water quality again, looking for any evidence of change in the level of present bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrite/ nitrates, nitrite, chlorine, hardness or PH in the water. Next, students will conduct the soil testing, looking for any changes in the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and PH. By the end of the unit, students should be able to recognize that although seeds that are genetically modified may grow quicker, fuller and thicker, the quality of the food is compromised. This will be accessed by examining the changes that occurred between the before and after soil and water testing and connecting it with how your immune system would react when introduced to these changes in addition to reading and writing a persuasive argument based on case studies in lab animal tests where genes are altered in animals which then cause an adverse reaction often linked to disease. Students should be able to recognize that genetically modified seeds are less healthy for human consumption and the environment because when the DNA of a plant or animal is changed, the traits that are added, such as the ability to resist herbicide or create an insecticide is not necessarily what we want to be putting into our body. These traits also upset the balance in nature's water cycle as well as impact the quality of the soil and the living organisms that inhabit it.
Students will also understand why the FDA is currently re-evaluating food labels including the recent mandate that Connecticut must properly label all products if an ingredient within it, has been modified. Students should then be able to apply their knowledge and improve the quality of their health by making more informed decisions about what they choose to eat. Students will conclude that genetically engineered foods, not only disrupt their health, but the sustainability of the environment as well.
