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Frankenstein lesson plans


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For those of you that are studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein this year, the US National Library of Medicine has a great website with background information and lesson plans for middle school and high school that have scientific links. So far, I have found it to be one of the better resources I have used. Enjoy.

 

Edited to add: While you are at the site, be sure to check out the other possibilities for literature, medicine, and science with works like The Yellow Wallpaper and Harry Potter.

Edited by swimmermom3
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  • 3 months later...
When I studied this in college, we studied it more as a piece of literary and familial criticism. Does the site mostly focus on science? I really don't think that was Shelley's point.

 

I think it touches a great deal upon science, particularly ethical issues involving the degree to which it is ethically right to create life -- whether in the laboratory or not, really -- and the responsibilities of creator to a creation.

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I think it touches a great deal upon science, particularly ethical issues involving the degree to which it is ethically right to create life -- whether in the laboratory or not, really -- and the responsibilities of creator to a creation.

 

It does. When studying the context of the novel, you'll find that there were a number of scientific advances being made that generated a fair amount of discussion, especially among the type of intellectuals that Shelly was running with.

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It does. When studying the context of the novel, you'll find that there were a number of scientific advances being made that generated a fair amount of discussion, especially among the type of intellectuals that Shelly was running with.

 

And it's absolutely no jump at all from talking about Frankenstein to talking about the possibilities of IVF, preimplantation genetic counseling, the ethics of designing your baby -- and the other, troublesome ethics of NOT designing your baby if you have the ability and means to do so. It's a book that's eminently worth reading for anyone interested in going into the biological sciences.

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