Genetically Modified Organisms

This lesson plan was created by Shanna Pierce, a high school math educator in Chicago, IL as part of the Fall 2024 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program, Making Local Connections to Global Health Stories. It includes three lessons and is designed for facilitation across two class periods.

For more units created by Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellows in this cohort, click here.

Lesson Overview:

Students examine the relationships between diet, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and health through the article “This ‘Super Banana’ Was Designed To Save Lives. Will It Matter That It’s Orange?”. As students are introduced to the themes presented in this article, they connect their personal diets and possible lack of nutrients to the issues in the article. After reading and discussing, students delve into research to decide “Can a healthy diet contain GMOs?” ending with the creation of an infographic to defend their answer to that claim.

Essential Question:

Should GMOs be banned from our food supply?

Performance Task(s):

Students use their notes from their analyses of the resources explored in the unit to develop an infographic to defend their answer to the question, “Can Genetically Modified Organisms be part of a healthy diet?” including statistics from their research in stations.

Assessment/Evaluation:

Students will be assessed formatively via analysis of the discussion, graphic organizers, and exit tickets. Students’ performance tasks will be assessed via a rubric  [.pdf][.docx]as a summative assessment. 

Lesson plan for teachers, including pacing, texts and multimedia resources, guiding questions for group discussions, performance task instructions, and grading rubric for the performance task. This unit was written to be taught over the course of 2-3 days, but can shortened or extended as needed.

Lesson Resources:

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.MATH.S-IC.B.6 Make inferences and justify conclusions from sample surveys, experiments, and observational studies. 
CCSS.MATH.S-MD.B.7 Use probability to evaluate outcomes of decisions.

The following are examples from high school math students in Chicago, IL who engaged with this lesson in fall 2024.

Students use an article analysis tracker to document key vocabulary, details, and personal connections from the article, “This ‘Super Banana’ Was Designed To Save Lives. Will It Matter That It’s Orange?” by Agostino Petroni for National Geographic.

Students apply their analysis of the article, and of several resources related to GMOs explored in stations, to develop infographics responding to the question, "can a healthy diet contain GMOs?"

Teacher Reflection

Shanna Pierce teaches math to high school students in Chicago, IL. Pierce created the lesson plan “Genetically Modified Foods” as part of the fall 2024 Pulitzer Center Teacher fellowship, Making Local Connections to Global Health Stories.” Click here to view her full lesson. At the conclusion of the fellowship, Pierce shared the following reflections on her experience developing and teaching the lesson.

Tell us about your fellowship lesson: What did you write, and why did you write this lesson for your community?

This lesson focuses on students answering the question, “Can GMOs be part of a healthy diet?” The lesson begins with students making connections to the food in their own lives before a brief introduction to genetically modified organisms. Students then engage with the reporting in  “This ‘Super Banana’ Was Designed To Save Lives. Will It Matter That It’s Orange? by Agostino Petroni for National Geographic and complete the Article Analysis Sheet I created. Next, students started to dig into different aspects of GMOs and nutrition through five stations. There, students explored their own diets, examined research on GMOs in the U.S., investigated the use of GMOs in other countries, developed their own opinion of GMOs supported by data, and though about what GMOs could help a teenager’s diet. I decided to write this lesson as nutrition has been something I speak with my students’ about regularly because of the foods I see them consuming. This lesson allowed students to explore their own nutritional needs while empathizing with the plight of others across the globe. 

Students in Chicago, IL use a graphic organizer created by their teacher Shanna Pierce to analyze the Pulitzer Center-supported article, “This ‘Super Banana’ Was Designed To Save Lives. Will It Matter That It’s Orange? by Agostino Petroni for National Geographic. Image by Shanna Pierce. United States, 2025.

Tell us about you, your students, and your community. How did you build this lesson with your community in mind?

My students and I are located in a major city far removed from farming and food production. 99% of students in our school qualify for free or reduced lunch. Many of my students come from neighborhoods that would be considered “food deserts” and are regularly getting food from gas stations and convenience stores. Because of this, I knew my students would need some front loading of information about food sources and genetically modified organisms. I also understood that students were going to need graphic organizers to ensure they could record their thinking throughout the lesson to refer back to. As many of my students struggle with reading and are unfamiliar with the topic, I provided some built-in scaffolding to assist with new vocabulary and places.

Tell us about what your students learned while engaging with the lesson

Students analyzed graphs, compiled statistics, and used resources to develop a claim that answers the question of this lesson, “Can GMOs be part of a healthy diet?” Students demonstrated their learning through discussion, analysis and answering questions before creating infographics. One connection that several of my students made to the article was attending a funeral at a young age. This got me thinking about the epidemic of gun violence in our city and how that could relate to this article. Students also noticed the ways that the article parallels that very different health issue in that solutions that have been tried thus far have not been successful in our city. They also pointed out that like the government in Uganda, the U.S. government has blocked some measures that could assist with the issue.

 Tell us about what you learned by creating and teaching this lesson: What were your takeaways from this experience? What advice do you have for other educators who may want to engage with your lesson plan and/or the themes in your lesson?

After implementing this lesson, I have come up with even more ways to analyze this piece of reporting and make connections to the students in my classroom. I feel more confident in looking for and bringing in more articles to the math classroom and finding ways to creatively align my content with the analysis of reporting. For other teachers interested in engaging with the lesson, I would advise that students have experience creating infographics before beginning this short lesson series. I also would encourage teachers to make their own connections to their students. This lesson is adaptable to different possibilities that may relate more to your students. Teachers should be open to the possibility of this lesson and discussion to build organically and be ready to adjust to follow where it goes.

As part of the fall 2024 fellowship, “Making Local Connections to Global Health Stories,” 14 educators from nine states created and taught lessons to engage their over 1,500 students in making local connections to global health news stories. Click here to learn more about the fellows and their collective impact.