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Topic: 6A Interdependence and adaptation
Aubrey de Grey, a British scientist, claims that people will eventually be able to live to 1000 years of age. He states that scientists have already found ways to alter cells and genes to regulate the ageing process and expects that in the next 20 years extending life in this way will be a possibility. In this activity the children are challenged to debate whether living for 1000 years is such a good thing. They will consider the implications for the planet and will look at the effects on food chains and webs.
An Upd8 task designed for CCEA (Northern Ireland) in line with the Revised Curriculum requirements for the World Around Us and Thinking Skills & Personal Capabilities.
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· To consider the benefits and possible disadvantages of longer human life span
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 1 successfully
· To understand how food chains are structured
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 4 successfully
· How changes to one organism in a food chain can affect others in the chain
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 4 successfully
Science:
QCA Unit 4B - Habitats
· To use food chains to show feeding relationships in a habitat
· About how nearly all food chains start with a green plant.
QCA Unit 6A - Interdependence and adaptation
· That animals and plants in a local habitat are interdependent
· That food chains begin with a plant (the producer)
· To construct food chains in a particular habitat
Scientific enquiry
· That science is about thinking creatively to try to explain how living things work, and to establish links between cause and effect.
Introducing the activity
· Display page 1 through a data projector or on an OHT. Ask the children for their thoughts on the idea of living forever. Note the responses on a whiteboard or flipchart to refer to later.
· Display page 2 through a data projector or on an OHT. Read out or ask a child to read out the introductory paragraph. Divide the class into Green and Red scientist teams (groups of about 6 children per team would be suitable).
Leading the main activity
· Display page 2 through a data projector or on an OHT. Read through the descriptions of each type of team on page 2. Explain to the children that they must play the role, and try to express the views of, the team of scientists they represent. Challenge the teams to identify ideas and arguments that support their point of view. The illustrations on page 3 can be used as a stimulus for this process.
· After the teams have had time to identify and list their ideas allow a spokesperson for the team to outline their opinions to the rest of the class. After the debate an individual ‘free vote' could be held to get an overall class view on the issue. Once the overall view has been decided, children can prepare a short report on their findings. The report should be written as if it were to be sent to a scientist like Dr Aubrey de Grey. The report should contain at least three key points in support of/ opposition to the research.
· Use page 4 to introduce a further task that looks specifically at the effect of increased human life span and population on food chains. Ask the children to think about and then describe what each of the food chains illustrated shows and challenge them to draw other food chains that include humans. Ask the children to think about and put forward their ideas about how increased numbers of humans would affect each food chain. For each living thing in the food chains they should try to say if their numbers would go up or down and why this might happen.
BBC News
Dr Aubrey de Grey's thoughts on why extending life is a good thing.
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