The four-part teaching unit provides teachers with fact-based knowledge about stem cells. The free materials allow senior grade students to actively delve into current stem cell research. Didactically enriched through elements of a scientific conference, the teaching materials deal with the topics of “Basics, Ethics, Therapeutics, and Genetics,” and are suited for immediate classroom use in biology and other subjects such as ethics. They offer explanatory texts, articles, graphs, exercise sheets, and concrete teaching suggestions. Students work to acquire the current knowledge on stem cells, formulate current research approaches, and reflect on ethical aspects. Using elements of a scientific conference, they present their newly gained knowledge to each other.

The teaching materials can be used on tablets and computers and are available free of charge at http://www.understanding-stemcells.info. There, you can download the full document or individual sections as PDF files. Moreover, teachers can add to and edit the material.

The German Stem Cell Network and its scientific experts guarantee the quality of the material. The Schering Stiftung draws on its experience in science education to introduce young adults to current research topics through the use of new methodologies and to strengthen their interest in the natural sciences.