The Human Genome Project has produced a wealth of DNA sequence and driven the rapid evolution of novel laboratory techniques currently used in gene discovery and analysis. These advances have not gone unnoticed by students or their parents, and many young adults consider this information relevant to their future. High school underclassmen are capable of comprehending and successfully executing the procedures of PCR, restriction enzyme digestion, and DNA sequencing in the laboratory (Bonds & Paolella, 1998). Because today's students are interested in meaningful experiential biotechnology, and local employers are in need of part-time workers with modest laboratory skills, this novel science elective has attracted many students. It introduces them to the human gene discovery process and provides them with rudimentary biotechnology skills, which have served to gain them employment in research laboratories. On the college level, Human Gene Discovery Laboratory is offered to freshmen as an elective structured in a seminar format. The experiments are similar but lessons are presented in a more advanced format. Introducing the Problem: Family Pedigree Development Human Gene Discovery Laboratory confronts the students with a classic genetics problem, one that they must solve during the course of the semester (see course outline in Figure 1). Students encounter fictitious members who display symptoms of a disease and who are in need of student diagnoses. The scenario compels students to collect a potpourri of phenotypic information as each member's medical history unfolds during a class interrogation. Each student is required to construct an accurate pedigree and, with the application of OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query. fcgi?db=OMIM), present his/her individual hypothesis. In this activity, Mendelian genetics is revisited, the four human inheritance patterns are reviewed, and classical biology is applied to medicine. Two scenario approaches may be configured to engage the students in interactive group learning situations. Both methods encourage students to collect data in a fashion much like that assembled by a genetic counselor. Outside actors may role-play members who reveal individual medical histories and those of their immediate relatives when interrogated by the students. Alternatively, the students themselves may portray the members. In this case each student involved in the scenario receives a card with a fictitious name on one side and the person's medical history and relationships on the other. The student family member releases pertinent information to the class during the family discussion while maintaining a medical record for each of his/her own relatives. If desired, the number of members in the case study may equal the number of students in the class. Student involvement in the scenario demands interaction with classmates and encourages the sharing of information with each other. Students are forced to synthesize contrasting details and analyze information. This exercise offers an immediate measure of the student's ability to listen carefully, take detailed notes, and assemble a collection of disparate facts. Either scenario emphasizes that errors in collecting familial data can create a major problem in the medical world. Hypothesis Formation The review of the common modes of inheritance (autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, sex-linked dominant and sex-linked recessive) and the use of The National Center for Biotechnology Information (and other useful Web sites as listed in Table 1) present the necessary background for hypothesis construction. OMIM is a technically advanced, medical authority of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and as such, some teachers may choose to limit the case at hand to 10 or 20 possible genetic diseases. While challenging to the young student, OMIM reveals the genetic disease and identifies the gene locus when keywords are presented to its search engine (some examples are listed in Table 2). …