Unit3 Science versus nature (Brief Teaching Plan)
Welcome to the unit
Teaching objectives:
1. To arouse students’ interest in the unit topic
2. To help students kwon more about cloning technology
3. To encourage students to participate in the discussionrelevant to cloning
Teaching focus and difficulties:
1. Make sure that students can have the basic knowledge about cloning.
2. Make sure that each student can hold their own opinions towards cloning.
Teaching aids:
The multimedia
Brief teaching procedures:
Step1 Brainstorming
1. Ask students to read the title of the unit Science versus nature. Draw students’ attention to the word ‘versus’. Tell them that ‘versus’ is usually used when discussing sports competitions or the law, which means that two teams or sides are against each other.
Encourage students to think why ‘versus’ is used here. Ask students the following questions:
Do you think there is conflict between science and nature?
What might the conflict be?
2. Show a picture of the first cloned mammal, Dolly. Give some introduction about the creation of Dolly. Tell students this new technology is called ‘cloning’, which produces an exact copy of an animal or a plant from its own cells.
3. Lead students to learn the unit while thinking about the relationship between the title of the unit Science versus nature and cloning technology.
Step2 Sharing information
1. Show the following five pictures one by one, each of which shows a successfully cloned animal. As to the five pictures, we conduct the following activities.
(Picture2) Tell students that the mule in the picture is the world’s first cloned mule. It was born on 4 May 2003. His name is Idaho Gem and his brother, Taz, was a racing mule that has won many competitions.
(Picture3) Tell students that the kitten in the picture is called Cc. Its name is from ‘Copycat’. Scientists in the USA created it with a cell taken from its mother, Rainbow. It was born in December 2002.
(Picture4) The five little pigs’ names are Noel, Angel, Star, Joy and Mary.
(Picture5) The pair of calves were born on 5 July 1998 in Ishikawa, Japan. They were two years younger than Dolly, being the second adult animal clones in the world.
(Picture6) The name of the cloned monkey is ANDi. It is from ‘inserted DNA’ spelt backwards. It is the first genetically modified monkey. The technology is different from that used for Dolly.
2. Get students to form groups of four or six to discuss the further questions:
From just these pictures, can you identify the differences between the cloned animals and normal ones?
In your opinion, what might be the differences between these cloned animals and normal ones? Can these animals lead a normal life as normal animals?
Ask several groups to report their answers to the class. Allow different opinions and encourage further discussion.
3. Have students hold a debate about whether it would be a good idea to clone humans some day. Divide students into two groups. One group represents anti-cloning views while the other represents pro-cloning views. Encourage students to provide as many reasons as they can to support their ideas.
Step3 Homework
Assign students to surf the Internet or refer to other sources for further information relevant to cloning technology, so as to finish the first two questions below the pictures. Ask students to make as many notes as possible.

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