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Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria: Testing a Hypothesis

Topic
  • Genetics
  • Genetic Disease
  • Evolution
  • Population Genetics
  • Science Practices
  • Explanations & Argumentation
Resource Type
  • Activities
  • Lessons
Level
High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IB
Favorited By
12 Users
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Description

This activity supports concepts covered in the film Natural Selection in Humans by having students answer question about the discovery of the link between malaria resistance and sickle cell disease.

The video tells the story of how Tony Allison investigated the prevalence of the sickle cell allele and malaria in East Africa. As they watch the film, students complete a chart with questions about sickle cell disease, malaria, and the process of science. They then synthesize the information by explaining how the link between sickle cell disease and malaria is an example of human evolution.

Student Learning Targets
  • Explain how natural selection increases the frequency of certain traits.

  • Explain how a harmful trait, such as sickle cell disease, can be maintained in a population through natural selection.

  • Describe the scientific process of asking questions, formulating hypotheses, doing experiments, and drawing conclusions based on evidence.

Details
Estimated Time
One or two 50-minute class periods.
Key Terms

alleles, anemia, hemoglobin, heterozygote, homozygote, malaria, mutation, sickle cell character

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Version History
Date Published 03.07.11
Curriculum Connections
NGSS (2013)

HS-LS3-3, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4; SEP6

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-1.C, EVO-1.E, IST-2.E, IST-4.A, IST-4.B, SYI-3.D; SP1, SP6

IB Biology (2016)

3.1, 5.2

AP Environmental Science (2013)

II.C

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

3.2

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1, CC5; DP1

Materials
Student Handout (PDF) 478 KB
Teacher Materials (PDF) 123 KB
Use This Resource With
Video Resource
The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection in Humans

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