Giving Birth to Someone Else's Children?
A Case of Disputed Maternity
Author(s)
Abstract
Most students have heard about situations in which the paternity of a child is questioned, but maternity? This case was designed for introductory biology students and asks them to develop hypotheses to explain how a mother cannot be genetically related to two of her three sons. Through an interrupted, progressive disclosure format, students reject hypotheses and form new ones as data is revealed. This case involves concepts in genetics, inheritance, and the formation of pedigrees. At the conclusion, students are asked to think about the moral, ethical, and legal implications of the mother’s rare condition.
Objectives
- Formulate testable hypotheses given preliminary data.
- Suggest tests to evaluate current hypotheses.
- Interpret data to evaluate and revise hypotheses.
- Draw a pedigree based on given genetic information.
- Use a Punnett square to predict the likelihood of a genetic combination.
- Discuss the condition of the protagonist of the case study and describe its implications.
Keywords
Inheritance; pedigree; human reproduction; haplotype; chimera; tetragametic chimerism; maternityTopical Areas
Ethics, Legal issues, Scientific methodEducational Level
High school, Undergraduate lower divisionFormat
PDFType / Methods
InterruptedLanguage
EnglishSubject Headings
Biology (General) | Genetics / Heredity |
Date Posted
09/01/07Teaching Notes
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