Genetics and Social Justice: Professional Development Workshop, Boston, MA

Join us! This one-day interdisciplinary workshop will explore issues of social justice and the ethical, legal and social implications of genetics. Attendees will learn cutting-edge, engaging content and participate in activities that model classroom lessons for students. Participants will receive free pgEd curriculum and join a community of educators who value thought-provoking content and activities. The workshop is open to teachers of all subjects, and is most relevant to teachers of social studies, biology, genetics, health, biotechnology, and humanities.

Topics for this workshop will include:

Introduction to Personal Genetics: This lesson introduces students to recent advances in genetics and personal genome sequencing, and presents some of the decisions and ethical challenges an individual may face regarding the use of this technology.

History, Eugenics and Genetics: This lesson provides a historical overview of the American eugenics movement. Many people fear that new advances in genetics, particularly embryo screening and analysis of fetal DNA, could lead to a new era of eugenics. The goal of this lesson is for students to start discussing these topics so that they can understand the complexity of the issues and engage in conversations that contrast the dangers of eugenics with the benefits that can come from genetic information.

Genome Editing and CRISPR: Recently developed techniques to easily modify DNA, known as “genome editing,” are bringing many new possibilities as well as dilemmas to the forefront of medicine, ethics, religion and society at large. This lesson introduces the basic scientific concepts of genome editing, its potential for improving human health, and some of the ethical discussions surrounding the technique.

Facilitating Difficult Conversations: We will discuss effective strategies for facilitating sensitive conversations in the classroom, with concrete ideas to foster open dialogue.

Attendees will earn a $75 stipend and 10 professional development points. Please register here and contact Lauren Tomaselli at ltomaselli@pged.med.harvard.edu for more information.