Genetic Disorders Webquest

You and your classmates have been hired by Health Canada to create informational pamphlets about common genetic disorders. Your job is to choose one genetic disorder to research and then produce a pamphlet that provides information about the signs, symptoms, causes, long/short term effects, and possible treatment options for the disorder. The pamphlets will be distributed to hospitals and doctor's offices across the country. Health Canada wants to increase awareness of genetic disorders and these pamphlets will be a key part of their campaign.

Genetic disorders are the result of abnormalities in gene(s) or chromosome(s). These abnormalities can be caused by gene/chromosome duplications, mutations, errors in meiosis, or any number of other processes. It is important to make the distinction between genetic disorders and genetic diseases such as cancer. Genetic disorders are the result of DNA abnormalities in every cell of the body where as diseases only affect individual cells. At this point you should have nearly completed your genetics unit and should be very familiar with the key concepts of genetics. You will use the resources found in this web quest as well as knowledge obtained in your class to complete the project for Health Canada by the deadline.

As an introduction to genetic disorders and to gain some background information you should review Health Canada's web page on genetic disorders. This page gives some of the details about genetic disorders and reviews some of the ideas that you should already have learned.

Be sure to follow all of the steps provided in the order that they are given. Progress through each section of the web quest which are present on the left-side navigation bar in the order in which they are presented.