The book
Just Like Tomorrow
Faiza Guene
Definitions (Random House Children's Books).
Price £5.99.
Age 12+ yrs
From a rundown council estate in a drab Parisian suburb, 15-year-old Doria looks at her life and isn't too impressed. Her dad has gone back to Morocco to find himself a new wife who'll produce a son and heir, her depressed mum is stuck in a lowly paid job, and at school they've signed Doria up to see an old psychologist who smells of Quit Nits shampoo. As a young Muslim growing up in a society full of preconceptions, Doria has little to aspire to. But although the book's setting is bleak, its mood is upbeat and her sarky first-person narrative provides an engrossing social commentary on the mismatch between French ideals of citizenship and the reality of life for disaffected teenagers. The sharply observed story, written by a 20-year-old French student of Algerian parentage, is already a bestseller in France. It is told in part through the use of a cleverly translated version of French slang. Readers will readily engage with its serious subject matter.
The web
Reproduction and cloning
Suitable for: KS4/5 pupils & teachers
The 18 methods of making a baby are covered on this site, including artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation (IVF), cytoplasmic transfer, nuclear transfer and cloning. Human cloning is discussed in depth through interviews with three experts. A simple but effective animation shows how cells divide in mitosis and meiosis. Some useful weblinks, suggestions for reading and a teachers' guide complete matters.
www.globalchange.com/clone.html
Suitable for: KS5 pupils & teachers
Whilst this website about human cloning is clearly aimed at deterring cloning, it is useful to hear the views of Dr Patrick Dixon on why it should not be done. However, he does present as a "talking head" and that is probably not suitable for earlier than KS5. There is also a Flash video that relates to taking control of your future, raises human cloning, and has superb graphics. Access is also given to the whole text of Dixon's book The Genetic Revolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2499000/2499411.stm
Suitable for: KS3/4/5 pupils & teachers
The "On This Day" website from the BBC brings back events from 1950 onwards. Here it looks at the birth of Louise Brown, the first so-called test-tube baby, born on July 25 1978, and a series of annotated stills shows the process of IVF. It also includes a profile of Louise 25 years on and mentions that her sister, also born via IVF, was the first IVF woman to give birth naturally in 1999.
www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
Suitable for: KS3/4 pupils & teachers
By clicking on either Male or Female Reproductive you are presented with whole-body views of the human reproductive organs. By moving the cursor over various markers, parts are identified. More information is available, usually with explanatory diagrams. Extra menus, particularly in the female reproductive system, look at the stages of development of a baby from fertilisation to birth. Excellent.
Suitable for: KS4/5 pupils, teachers & (potential) parents
This is a massive website containing everything one could think of to do with pregnancy and birth. Sections include "Can I get pregnant if ... ?", "Signs and symptoms of pregnancy", an amazing ultrasound picture gallery, a pregnancy calendar, and much more.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/human-reproduction.htm
Suitable for: KS3/4/5 pupils & teachers
The Howstuffworks website covers all aspects of sex from the sex organs to fertilisation, all with excellent animations. It includes a short section on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), together with links for expanded details on these.
