In this lesson, students will research how famous families came to be. They’ll work with their peers to uncover details about fertilization, gestation, and birth, as well as other aspects of the famous family’s story. Students will then demonstrate (orally or written) their understanding of the concepts from the past two lessons. They will also reflect on the role celebrities play in shaping our thoughts, feelings and behaviors around reproduction and families.

This first lesson (of three) explains sexual and reproductive anatomy, and human reproduction via penis-in-vagina sexual intercourse (PIV sex). During this lesson, the educator will model the use of respectful, inclusive concepts and language to describe the process of human reproduction and family formation.

This second lesson enables students to apply what they know about human reproduction via PIV sex (Lesson 1 of this series) to other means of reproduction. They will not only learn the steps in how insemination and IVF work to create a pregnancy, but they will also learn that people other than parents can provide the genetic material (eggs, sperm, and embryos) and give birth to a child for someone else (surrogates). Students will be working in small groups to help one another understand the concepts and to practice using the inclusive language that the educator modeled in the first lesson.

This lesson explains reproduction to students using a PowerPoint presentation and includes a teacher’s resource with sample definitions and language that can be used. Students then receive cards and try to arrange themselves in the correct order of a 28-day menstrual cycle showing where sperm would need to be present in order for a pregnancy to occur as well as how methods of contraception can prevent pregnancy. The homework is watching a short video about pregnancy myths and answering questions on a worksheet.

The Sex Ed Open Learning Project User Guide provides background information and tips for navigating the collection.

This lesson defines sexual intercourse and the cells involved with reproduction (sperm and egg) using an AMAZE video. It also includes a discussion of how pregnancy can happen via other methods as well. Using a small group activity, this lesson also examines the economic reality of accessing reproductive health care and how economic disparities impact who can and cannot utilize these methods. This information sets the foundation for understanding a basic physiological process and underpins future lessons about pregnancy prevention.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Islands are hotspots of biodiversity. But they’re in danger. Human activities are disrupting the natural habitats of numerous island plant and animal species, causing them to degrade, fragment, or perish altogether. Including here, in the islands of Japan. In response, the Japanese government has recently committed to a 17% expansion of its network of protected areas, spaces such as national parks that support long-term conservation of biodiversity and natural resources. The proposed expansion is one of the common global strategic plans for biodiversity, specifically, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The problem is that experts have no comprehensive, ecologically justified way of determining which areas to include. Now, a team of researchers from Japan and Finland has devised an analytical framework that could make Japan’s protected area expansion as efficient as possible..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.