Delacorte Press, 1989

---

Summary: Set in a futuristic society, Eva, a beautiful 13-year-old girl, comes out of a long coma to realize her "neuron memory" has been implanted into the brain and body of a now dead female chimp named Kelly.

Level: 8-11 grades

Theme:

biological science fiction
over-population
organ transplants
survival of the fittest
animal rights

Activities:

1. Determine the scientific plausibility of the novel. Make a list of the scientific achievements presented in the novel (include page numbers). Match as many as possible with brief descriptions of similar scientific achievements of 50 years ago which you have found through research. Add a third column with present-day scientific achievements. Are there any in the novel that can't be matched? What conclusions can you draw? What speculations or directions might you make about the future? Make a time capsule to be opened up in 25 years.

2. Let students begin thinking about characteristics which are common to both people and animals. Differences? What problems must Eva overcome? How well does she accomplish this? Rewrite a section as if Eva had a different attitude.

3a. Discuss in small groups: Based on present scientific achievements do you think those presented in Eva are realistic? Brainstorm moral and ethical issues involved with scientific advancement. What potential ethical issues do you see? Many of the moral and ethical issues have developed into debates during scientific advancements. Do you think scientific research should continue and be funded? (Suggested reading: "What if I Don't Want to Play God?" by Kelly Kykes Dobrin and Gary Dean Yarnall. (Ohio State, ERIC document EC124360, ED 188400).

3b. Recent advances in transplanting of tissue, genetic engineering, new reproductive technologies, and DNA testing have resulted in famous court cases such as the Baby M trial, the Baby Doe case, and even O.J. Simpson's murder trial. Research a famous trial. What issues are/were at stake? What facts and opinions support the various sides of the issue?

3c. Some judges and legislators feel new laws will need to be enacted to guide new biomedical procedures. Predict laws that will need to be enacted in the future to define new ethical standards. Learn how a bill becomes a law. Write your own bill related to one of these new technologies and explain how it will move through the legislative process. What problems might your bill encounter along the way? How do you propose to overcome these potential obstacles? Explain the process to your class using a visual aid.

3d. New reproductive technology allows women who have already gone through menopause to give birth to a baby. Research the medical procedure. Imagine you serve on a hospital's Board of Ethics. A doctor wants to perform this procedure on a 57-year-old woman who is in excellent health. She has been happily married for 35 years but has never been able to have a child of her own. Her husband supports her request to undergo the procedure. Have a group of students in your class role play the Board of Ethics discussion. Before role playing the situation, identify the issues that will be addressed. Also determine the different points of view to be presented by various members of the Board. What will be the Board's final decision? Have each person who will portray a Board member develop the arguments she will use to support her point of view. Role play the situation for your class. Then have your classmates evaluate the presentation. Were all possible points of view considered? Does the final decision seem justified?
OR conduct an opinion poll of the audience. Which side presents the most ethical solution to this scientific dilemma? Make sure each person justifies his opinion. Note: If you do not want to role play this scenario, create your own hypothetical situation.

4a. The advances in medicine and science are made possible through the use of animals in research and testing. Do these advances justify animal use? Divide the class into groups and research animal rights, alternatives to animal testing and laws regarding animal testing. To what degree will society accept the results of biomedical research? Present facts through a debate of the questions above. Poll the school community, compile the statistics and use them in the debate under the topic 'public opinion.'

4b. Create an Animal Rights poster, pamphlet or write an editorial regarding animal rights.

5. Read "Dreams of the Animals" by Margaret Atwood. Discuss her humor and reasons why animals might dream the things they do. Write a poem that might be a dream of a specific animal. Read the originals aloud. Ask the class to jot down clues as to what animal(s) it could be.

6. Read "Caught in the Organ Draft" by Robert Silverburg. Add the scientific advances, in this short story, to the chart made in question #1. Does Silverburg's story seem plausible? Compare/contrast with Eva.

7. Have students choose a book from the resources list. Have at least four groups (literature circles) reading the same book. Hold a Science Fiction Festival. Act out one important scene form each book. Have each group write a short summary of the scientific achievements projected into the future and include on the program handout.

8. Eva's mom sublimates a number of feelings throughout the book. Select a scene and rewrite a monolog for the mom. (Select her audience: Should she tell someone? Who? Just thoughts?)

9. Discuss whether or not you would consider Eva "victorious" in the end. Have students defend their opinions with examples and page numbers.

10. When the public first "discovers" Eva they all wanted an interview on TV so they could see her. Split the class into groups and tell them they are to have exclusive interviews with Eva through out the book. They are to create questions for three interviews: one in the beginning, one in the middle, and one just before her death. Also, each group must select an "Eva" and they must come up with answers for her. Videotape it and present to the class.

Resources:

Animal Rights. Greenhaven Press. l989.
This collection of essays from the Opposing Viewpoints Series addresses the following questions: Do animals have rights? Is animal experimentation justified? Should animals be used for food? Does wildlife need to be protected? How can the animal rights movement improve animal welfare?

Asimov, Isaac. Caught in the Organ Draft. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 1983.
(A collection of twelve science fiction stories with biological themes.

Atwood, Margaret. Selected Poems by Margaret Atwood. Oxford University Press, 1976.
Contains the poem "Dreams of the Animals."

Biomedical Ethics. Rev. ed. Greenhaven Press, 1993.
This collection of essays from the Opposing Viewpoints Series addresses the following questions: What ethics should guide biomedical research? What ethics should guide organ transplants? What ethics should guide fetal tissue research? Are reproductive technologies ethical? Should animal be used in research? What ethics should guide genetic research?

Koontz, Dean R. The Watchers. Putnam. 1987.
Positive and negative consequences of genetic experimentation with animals.

C.S. Lewis. That Hideous Strength. Macmillan, 1977.
A startling look at a possible perversion of science with an interesting twist on the relationships between mind and body.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Given his lifetime assignment at a special Ceremony, Jonas becomes the receiver of memoriesshared by only one other and he discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Orwell, George. 1984. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
"Big Brother is Watching." A classic view of a scientifically minded dystopia.

Sleator, William. The Duplicate, Dutton, 1988.
Sixteen year old David, finding a strange machine that creates replicas of living organisms, duplicates himself and suffers the horrible consequences when the duplicate turns against him.

Sleator, William. House of Stairs. Avon, 1974.
Five fifteen-year-old orphans of widely varying personalities are involuntarily placed in a house of endless stairs as subjects for a psychological experiment on conditioned human response.

Prepared by Mary Barteau, UM student Spring 1994

Home | About MASL | What's New? | Professional Development | Resources | Index

Contact: Web Manager