scientific literacy resource: gattaca · into film is a trading name of film nation uk. registered...

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Into Film is a trading name of Film Nation UK. Registered Charity number 1154030.

Our resources are designed to be used with selected film titles, which are available free for clubs at www.filmclub.org

Scientific Literacy Resource:Gattaca

Gattaca

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Our resources are designed to be used with selected film titles, which are available free for clubs at www.intofilm.org

Introduction

Gattaca 1997 | 106 mins | Cert: 14+

About this filmIn this thought-provoking science fiction thriller set in the not-too-distant future, humans are divided into

two groups - Valids (those born physically perfect through the marvels of science) and In-Valids - born naturally

and subject to disease and defect. Vincent is a resentful In-Valid, a cleaner whose imperfections have limited

his life choices. In an attempt to fulfil his dream of joining the space mission, he adopts the identity of Jerome,

a Valid paralysed in an accident - a ploy that works until a murder threatens his plans. This film was chosen because

it acts as the perfect stimulus for debate about genetic modification and links to the scientific competencies in the

PISA framework

How to use this resourceThis resource comprises three main sections:

• Pupil-facing question sheets (pages 3 - 5)

• Teacher notes that advise on scoring criteria (pages 6 - 13)

• Accompanying Scientific Literacy PowerPoint that contains the relevant film clips, available to download from

www.filmclub.org/resources.

About this resourceUsing film as the stimulus and set in modern-day scientific contexts, this series of resources can be used in the

classroom to help develop students’ scientific literacy. They help students to apply their scientific knowledge and

skills to issues in the modern world. The question sets focus on the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary

for scientific literacy as set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. They use a similar

style and format to the questions in the OECD PISA tests for scientific literacy and each question has been linked to

the OECD PISA Scientific Literacy Framework to indicate the knowledge and competencies each question focuses on.

You will find these question sets useful in helping to prepare your students for the OECD PISA tests, in helping them to

develop their scientific literacy skills for the new GCSE examinations, and in preparing them to take an active part in our

increasingly scientific and technological world.

Into Film would like to thank Rebecca Owen, science-subject specialist at the Welsh Government and the Central South

Consortium for her help in creating this resource. For more information on the range of resources created by her team,

visit http://learning.gov.wales/?lang=en.

DVD availabilityYou can order Gattaca on DVD for free through your Into Film club account via www.filmclub.org, or at:

www.filmclub.org/film/2816/gattaca. Not yet Into Film? Joining Into Film is easy and free – go to

www.intofilm.org/schools-film-clubs to find out more and register, or email [email protected].

Filmmaking supportAs well as viewing the film, this resource offers opportunities for filmmaking. For further information on filmmaking

in the classroom, see Into Film’s resource: www.bit.ly/PrimaryFilmmakingGuide.

Copyright Property of Columbia (1997). All rights reserved.

http://www.filmclub.org/resources

http://learning.gov.wales/?lang=en

http://www.filmclub.org/film/2816/gattaca

http://www.intofilm.org/schools-film-clubs

mailto:support%40intofilm.org?subject=Join%20Into%20Film

http://bit.ly/PrimaryFilmmakingGuide

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GattacaScientific literacy questions

Scientific literacy questions – Gattaca

Clip 1

QUESTION 1

The parents are using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to have their baby. During IVF treatment a woman is given a hormone to stimulate the production of eggs in her ovaries. Which hormone will the woman be given?

A FSHB ProgesteroneC InsulinD Testosterone

QUESTION 2

During IVF an embryo can be screened to check for inherited diseases that could be passed from the parents to their child. This is an advantage of the process of IVF. Give one disadvantage of using the process of IVF for reproduction.

QUESTION 3

The doctor says he has screened the embryos for major inherited diseases.

Which of these diseases are inherited?

Circle yes or no for each disease:

Sickle cell anaemia Yes / No

Measles Yes / No

Tuberculosis Yes / No

Huntington’s disease Yes / No

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QUESTION 4

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that causes a build-up of mucus in a person’s lungs and digestive system.

The letter C represents the unaffected allele, and c the allele for cystic fibrosis. Embryos could have three possible genotypes. CC, Cc and cc.

During IVF, doctors can screen the embryos to prevent a child or any of its offspring suffering from cystic fibrosis.

Embryos of which genotype would be used to prevent cystic fibrosis being passed on? Circle Yes or no for each genotype.

QUESTION 5

Two parents who are carriers of the gene for cystic fibrosis decide to conceive a baby naturally rather than by using IVF. What is the probability that they will have a child that suffers from cystic fibrosis?

A 100%B 50%C 25%D 0%

QUESTION 6

Talking about their baby, the doctor in the film says to the parents: ‘It’s still you, just the best of you’.

What do you think the doctor means by this statement?

Doctors would use embryos of this genotype during IVF to prevent cystic fibrosis being passed on

Yes / No

CC Yes / No

Cc Yes / No

cc Yes / No

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Clip 2

QUESTION 7

People in the film undergo regular checks on samples of their body fluids and tissues to check whether they are ‘Valid’ or ‘In-valid’. How might the samples from a Valid be different from those of an In-valid?

QUESTION 8

Eugene has to prepare lots of different samples of his body fluids and tissues for Vincent in case he is tested. Why are a number of samples needed to prove that Vincent is Valid?

QUESTION 9

Fingertip blood samples are taken to prove that a person is Valid. Which piece of equipment would you need in order to obtain the blood sample from the fingertip?

A Needle and SyringeB PipetteC SpatulaD Watch glass

QUESTION 10

Which explanation for why Vincent scrubs himself clean and has his clothes specially cleaned and sealed fits best with the story in the film?

A People who work for Gattaca are expected to be clean and smartly dressed.B He needs to reduce the chance of leaving any traces of his In-valid DNA behind.C He suffers from a condition like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder where he is afraid of coming into

contact with germs.D He thinks other people will try to steal his DNA.

QUESTION 11

In which part of a human cell is a person’s DNA found?

A cell membraneB cytoplasmC vacuoleD nucleus

Teacher notes


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Gattaca

Teacher notes – Gattaca

QUESTION 1

Scoring:

Full credit:A FSH

No credit:Other responses and missing.

Narrative:FSH is responsible for eggs maturing in the ovaries. Progesterone maintains the womb lining. Insulin is the hormone

responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. Testosterone is a male sex hormone responsible for male sexual

characteristics.

PISA Scientific Literacy Framework References:

QUESTION 2

Scoring:

Full credit:Any one from this list:

Multiple births are more likely, which can cause complications during pregnancy and birth for both the mother and

babies.

There may be a higher risk of premature birth or low birth weight in IVF babies.

IVF is expensive.

IVF does not always work/there is a low success rate.

Some people do not agree with the idea of destroying embryos which are not used during the process.

IVF treatment may be unpleasant/difficult/stressful for the mother and/or father.

IVF treatment can have side effects e.g. headaches, mood swings, tiredness, hot flushes.

Some people do not agree with IVF because they think it interferes with nature and creates babies which would not

have been created naturally.


Framework categories 2015 PISA Framework

Knowledge type Content knowledge

Competency Explain phenomena scientifically

ContextFrontiers of science and technology – local/national

Cognitive demand Low

Teacher notes


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Gattaca

Narrative:Students should be familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of using the process of IVF. Acceptable answers

to this question include physical issues to do with the health of the mother and baby, and also ethical issues to do with

whether it is right or wrong to create embryos, some of which may not be used and may be destroyed.


QUESTION 3

Scoring:

Full credit:Yes, no, no, yes – in that order.


Narrative:Inherited diseases are those which are passed on via the genes from parents to their children. Sickle cell anaemia

is a disease caused by a recessive gene, and Huntington’s disease is caused by a dominant allele. Measles is caused

by a virus, and tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium. Neither of these two diseases are passed on via the genes, so

neither can be inherited.






Cognitive demand Low/medium






Teacher notes


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Gattaca

QUESTION 4

Scoring:

Full credit:Yes, no, no – in that order.


Narrative:Doctors would only choose embryos which did not contain a copy of the recessive allele c which causes cystic fibrosis,

so the embryos they would choose would be the ones with the genotype CC. Doctors would not use embryos with

the genotype cc as they would be sufferers of the disease. Individuals with the genotype Cc would not suffer from

cystic fibrosis but would carry the gene and could pass this onto their offspring so doctors would want to eliminate

the genotype Cc as well so the offspring of the embryo could not be affected by cystic fibrosis either. The question

specifically says ‘to prevent the embryo or any of its offspring’ from having cystic fibrosis, so the embryo must not

be a carrier.


QUESTION 5

Scoring:

Full credit:C 25%

No credit:Other responses or missing.

Narrative:Students may recall that the probability of two carriers of a recessive gene having a child

which will suffer from the disease is 1 in 4 or 25%. Alternatively, they can arrive at the answer

by carrying out a genetic cross using a punnet square. C being the unaffected allele, and c

the allele for cystic fibrosis. Both parents are said to be carriers so will have the genotype Cc.

The sufferer will be the child with the genotype cc.





Cognitive demand Medium

C c

C CC Cc

c Cc cc

Teacher notes


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QUESTION 6

Scoring:

Full credit:They are still using the genes from the couple/the baby is still made from the couple’s DNA/they are not using anyone

else’s DNA, but:

The baby will not have any ‘bad’/defective/harmful/disadvantageous genes/the baby will only have ‘good’/useful/

advantageous genes/they have removed the harmful/bad/disadvantageous genes from the baby’s DNA.

(Both statements need to be linked for full credit.)

Partial credit:The baby will only inherit the good/advantageous/useful genes/the baby will not inherit bad/harmful/disadvantageous

genes/the baby will not have any bad genes/the baby will only have good genes without specifying that the baby will

still only be made up of the parents’ DNA and nobody else’s.

Do not accept ‘the baby will be perfect’ as this does not provide a suitable explanation of what the statement means.


Narrative:The first part of the statement ‘It’s still you’ is trying to say that the baby will still be entirely made up of DNA from the

parents. DNA from another person will not be used. The second part of the statement ‘just the best of you’ is saying

that any imperfections in the DNA of the parents such as genes that might code for diseases and disabilities or other

characteristics which may cause them health or psychological problems have been removed – (embryos with) those

genes will not be used. Students may recognise that this statement can only be true if there is at least one copy of the

‘good’ gene between the two parents, otherwise it would not be possible to eliminate disadvantageous conditions using

only the parents’ DNA.






Teacher notes


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QUESTION 7

Scoring:

Full credit:Tests of a valid sample would not detect genes for inherited diseases/disadvantageous/prejudicial conditions such

as those that were listed in the previous clip e.g. obesity, myopia, alcohol addiction, baldness etc.

Partial credit:Valid samples would not have bad genes in them – without specifying what a bad gene is or giving an example of what

a bad gene might be.


Narrative:Students should recognise that the DNA of a Valid person would not contain genes that would be disadvantageous

or could cause disease. These ‘imperfections’ would have been ‘weeded out’ during the IVF process via embryo

screening. DNA from In-valids would not have been screened so is still likely to contain a certain number of genes for

what could be considered as disadvantageous conditions. That is not to say that all In-valids would have genes for

diseases etc, but it would be clear to scientists studying the DNA if genes for a number of conditions were not present,

and would suggest that this would be a Valid whose DNA had been screened.






Cognitive demand High






Teacher notes


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QUESTION 8Scoring:

Full credit:The results of testing only one sample would not be reliable/you need to repeat tests in order to make sure that results

are reliable.

Students must make a statement to show they understand the need to carry out multiple tests to create results that are

reliable in order to prove something.

Partial credit:In case there is a problem with the first sample they provide.

Students can obtain credit for recognising that when we carry out a scientific test there can be problems with the

samples we test which could lead to anomalous results, and that a further test must be carried out to obtain the true

result.

No credit:Other responses or missing.

Narrative: The question is looking for students to show understanding of the need to repeat tests in order to produce reliable

data. Scientists cannot obtain proof for a hypothesis (that a person is Valid or Invalid) based on only one set of results.

Students will be correct in saying that it will be easier to cheat the system and pretend to be Valid if only one type

of test is carried out but they must explain the scientific basis of this (How Science Works) and link what they have said

to reliability of results in order to obtain credit for their answer.


QUESTION 9

Scoring:

Full credit:A Needle and syringe



Knowledge type Procedural knowledge

Competency Evaluate and design scientific enquiry



Teacher notes


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QUESTION 10

Scoring:

Full credit:B He needs to reduce the chance of leaving any of his In-valid DNA behind.


Narrative:Vincent has to make the authorities believe he is Valid. He uses samples of Eugene’s DNA (blood, urine etc) to prove

he belongs to the Valid race. However, Vincent’s body cells still contain his own DNA. We lose thousands of skin cells

from our bodies each day and many of our hairs fall out. All of these cells contain our DNA. These skin cells and hairs

and other body fluids such as sweat will leave traces of our DNA on our clothes, which is why Vincent has to have his

specially cleaned. You can also leave behind traces of your DNA in places you visit e.g. by leaving skin and hair cells

behind. Any of these traces could be used to identify Vincent as an In-valid, so he must do everything he can – washing,

shaving, cleaning his clothes etc to ensure he leaves no DNA behind that could be used to show he was not Valid.



Knowledge type Procedural knowledge

Competency Evaluate and design scientific enquiry








Teacher notes


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QUESTION 11

Scoring:

Full credit:D nucleus








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