Sponsored Educational Materials GRADES 6–12

TEACHING GUIDE Science Activities About Regeneration and Research Careers Visit scholastic.com/pathways for additional lessons, videos, and more.

Dear Teacher, In this guide you’ll find:

✓ Lesson on regeneration, with tips for reading scientific texts ✓ Scaffolded activity sheets for research ✓ Class set of student magazines

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Exploring Regenerative Medicine

Help your students imagine the real-world applications of cellular regeneration through experimental design.

Objective Directions Students will be able to use Ask students: What happens when specific strategies while 1 you get a paper cut? Do you know what happens when a salamander loses its tail? reading a scientific text Help students arrive at a definition of in order to demonstrate regeneration (the process of forming new an understanding of tissue). Then, have students imagine a Read the magazine individually or as regeneration. world where nothing regenerates. Prompt 3 a class. Discuss, including students’ them to consider what in our world does How Standards questions and annotations. Ask: and does not regenerate, and to what are mammals similar to organisms like NGSS Crosscutting extent (think about buildings, plants, axolotls? (Like mammals, axolotls have Concepts; Structure and rocks, animals, etc.). Ask: Is there anything skin, muscles, cartilage, and bones. They Function 6–12 humans can learn from a worm? Why do also have digestive, circulatory, and CCSS Reading Standards scientists research regeneration? How nervous systems.) And then ask: Why for Literacy in Science and could it change lives, or even society? can axolotls regrow lost legs and internal organs and we can’t? Technical Subjects 6–12 Hand out the student magazine and (Human tissue 2 review tips and tricks for reading is much more complex. Scientists are Time informational text as needed. studying axolotls, planarians, and hydras 60–90 minutes to learn which cell types and genes are  If you don’t know a word, mark it. If essential to regeneration.) Materials you can’t figure out its meaning using Distribute the activity sheet.  context clues, look it up, then reread. Pathways magazine Support students in designing their  Use the informational text features 4  Research own experiment, challenging them to Grs. 6–8: (headings, bolded words, captions, draw on the magazine and their grade- the Curious World of sidebars) to help you. Regeneration activity level knowledge of experimental design.  Annotate: Draw arrows and write your sheet questions/reflections in the margins. Wrap up by using regeneration as a  springboard to discuss the wonders Grs. 9–12: From  5 Challenge yourself to find the main idea of science. Tell students there are Curiosity to Hypothesis and several examples to support it. activity sheet science/lab jobs that can immerse them in  For extra support, break down the fascinating research every day. Encourage  Vocabulary list at passage: Read the first paragraph and them to nurture their curiosity and keep a scholastic.com annotate the main idea; read the next record of their questions. They just might /pathways paragraph and do the same. get to uncover the answers one day!

Supporting All Learners

To increase the challenge To decrease the challenge To support English language  Have students come up with  Have students work (or read) learners discussion questions that use in groups of varying abilities.  Emphasize the Latin roots of each of the vocabulary words.  For experimental design, scientific terms. Examples: “re”  Have them research other review terms like dependent (again or back), “gener” (create), organisms that regenerate and and independent variables, “ation” (noun suffix). compare and contrast what these constant, control group, and  Assign a color to word types organisms can/can’t do. repeated trials. (e.g., action words = circle in red) . Activity

Name Research the Curious World of Regeneration Find out what we know so far about regeneration, then think like a scientist and come up with your own research questions.

Planarian Idea Starters for Research Questions

Type of organism: Flatworm Brainstorm good investigative Regenerative abilities: It can regrow its questions by asking yourself: entire body—including its head—from a How does... tiny bit of tissue. If one planarian is cut into What would happen if... 20 pieces, in three weeks you’ll have 20 planarians. Cells called neoblasts are activated and What is the difference re-create missing tissue, including nerves, guts, and between... muscles. What conditions would cause...

Axolotl Now Build Your Own Questions Type of organism: Aquatic salamander Brainstorm a research question you want to ask about each organism. Regenerative abilities: It can regenerate its tail, limbs, heart, spinal cord, pancreas, and kidney. The 1. Planarian cells near the damaged spot transform to stem cells, which then form bones, skin, and tissue. Researchers study axolotls to investigate whether humans can one day regenerate in similar ways. 2. Axolotl Human

Type of organism: Mammal Regenerative abilities: Humans have limited regenerative capabilities. We can usually regrow 3. Human lost hair. Our skin, bone marrow, liver, and the insides of our intestines can grow back when they’re damaged, but our limbs can’t. Researchers have helped develop ways to grow back fingertips.

Extra Credit

BUILD YOUR EXPERIMENT Choose one of your research questions and design an experiment to find out more. (You may have to narrow your question’s focus when you form and test your hypothesis.) As you summarize your experiment on the back of this sheet, be sure to isolate your variable (what will you change? will you have a control?) and explain how you will measure and collect data. ACTIVITY

Name From Curiosity to Hypothesis Go out on a limb to develop a research hypothesis about regeneration, animal behavior, disease, or something else you’re curious about!

CREATING A HYPOTHESIS

On separate paper, brainstorm REFLECTING & REVISING  or research a few organisms that  Could my hypothesis help me regenerate (or some other topic that you learn something I didn’t know are interested in knowing more about). before? Circle the one you are most curious about.  Is it testable? Consider independent and dependent Imagine you are going to conduct variables. Will I be able to observe  research on this organism/topic. and measure a change? Consider what you already know vs. what  Am I using math to measure my you want to know. Write down ideas for outcomes? narrowing your focus. Circle your favorite. (Example: percent of change over time, how many _____, by how much did _____ change?) Set a main objective for your  research. Then write it as a Based on the reflections above, revise hypothesis you can test:  your hypothesis to: I hypothesize that if I hypothesize that if

, ,

then then

. .

CHALLENGE ZONE

On separate  independent and dependent variables Predict the outcomes: Imagine your hypothesis was

paper, develop a  constant(s) disproved. What happened, and what could you learn summary of the  control group from that? If you made observations consistent with your steps needed hypothesis, what would you expect to find out?  repeated trials to test your hypothesis. Be  experimental conditions/setting What’s another question you could study to go further, after sure to consider:  data collection you have found out the results of your initial hypothesis?