Introduction  | Task | Process | Roles | Resources


Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at the age of eighteen. She had eloped with Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley to Geneva, Switzerland. The Shelleys visited Percy Shelley’s friend George Gordon, Lord Byron and Byron’s doctor John Polidori at the Villa Diodata In Geneva. The weather was awful, and to pass the time, the group read ghost stories, and Lord Byron suggested they each write their own supernatural tale. thus, the monster was born. Frankenstein has never been out of print1.


The galvanism experiments conducted by Erasmus Darwin (ancestor of Charles), the burgeoning Industrial revolution, and Questions regarding exploration and science influenced Shelley’s construction of the novel2. The novel still challenges readers to think about nature versus nurture, the ethics of science, and the question of responsibility as well as the relationship between creator and Creation.


Task3


You will create a scientific journal that explores some of the issues raised in the novel through a modern lens. You will research issues related to cloning and stem cell research, analyze themes in the novel, and develop an informed opinion on these topics. You will work in a group consisting of an editor-in-chief, a copy editor, and a photo/graphic editor.


Process

  1. BulletDecide who will fulfill each role.

  2. BulletAssign each group member one essential question/theme from the novel.

  3. BulletIndividually locate, read, summarize, and critique one article on stem cell research or cloning.

  4. BulletIndividually research your theme, using both the novel and related sites on the internet and write an essay on the theme.

  5. BulletDiscuss the place of cloning, stem cell research, and science in our society to form an informed group opinion.

  6. Bulletlocate graphics and political cartoons relevant to the articles and opinions of the group members.

  7. BulletCreate an MLA Works Cited page for information and graphics used in the journal.

  8. Bulletorganize all articles, essays, graphics, and the works cited page into a scientific journal using Microsoft publisher or Apple iWork Pages.


Roles

Your group will contain the following members:


Editor-in-Chief


This group member is responsible for organizing all materials, keeping the group on task and aware of deadlines, and writing the collection group opinion essay. Click here for a rubric for this role.


Copy Editor


This group member is responsible for creating the actual journal in publisher or pages. Ideally, this member should have his/her own laptop computer with this software installed. Click here for a rubric for this role.


Photo/Graphic editor


This group member is responsible for locating graphics and political cartoons for the journal and for compiling the Works Cited page. Click here for a rubric for this role.


All Members


Each group member will research a theme from the novel and write an essay on that theme. each member will also find, read, summarize, and critique one article on cloning or stem cells to share with the group. From these articles, the group will discuss the place of these issues in our society to come up with a group position on these issues. all group members are responsible for turning in all materials on time so the copy editor can create the journal.


Note: If due to class size, your group must consist of four members, the fourth member should float among the three positions, helping each and contribute his/her own article and essay to the scientific journal; thus, this group’s journal will be somewhat larger than that expected by groups with three members.


Resources

Science article Web Sites

  1. BulletNew Scientist Stem Cells and Cloning

  2. BulletCloning articles collected by Arizona State University West

  3. BulletCloning Fact Sheet from Human Genome Project

  4. BulletCloning from University of Utah Genetic science learning Center

  5. BulletTime Newsfile on Cloning

  6. BulletCloning from the National Human Genome Research Institute

  7. BulletStem Cell information from the National Institutes of Health

  8. BulletStem Cells from University of Utah Genetic science learning center

  9. BulletNew York Times topics collection of articles on Stem Cells


Political Cartoon Web sites

  1. BulletDaryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists index

  2. BulletJohn Klossner’s TechToons


Theme/Essential Questions sites and resources

If your group contains four members, each of you should select one of these themes. If there are three, one person should select either “Taking responsibility” or “Creator and Creation,” while the other two explore “science and Exploration” and “Nature versus Nurture.”


taking responsibility

  1. BulletLevine, George. “frankenstein and the tradition of Realism.” frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 208-214. Print.

  2. BulletAnonymous. From Knight’s Quarterly (Aug.-Nov. 1824). frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 197-200. print.

  3. BulletBurns, Alisa. “Frankenstein of the future.” monsters. Oct. 2002. Michael A. Delahoyde. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  4. BulletCoulter, Susan. “frankenstein: A cautionary Tale of Bad Parenting.” mary shelley and frankenstein. 26 Jun. 2001. Kim A. Woodbridge. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  5. BulletPamintuan, Tina. “‘It’s Alive: Frankenstein’s Monster and Modern Science.” humanities. 23.5 (September/October 2002). Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  6. BulletJohnson, Zachary. “Luddite Influence in Mary Shelley’s frankenstein.” hamhock’s. 6 Dec. 1998. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Science and exploration

  1. BulletButler, Marilyn. “frankenstein and radical science.” frankenstein. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 302-313. Print.

  2. BulletPamintuan, Tina. “‘It’s Alive: Frankenstein’s Monster and Modern Science.” humanities. 23.5 (September/October 2002). Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  3. BulletStorment, SuZanna. “frankenstein: The Man and the Monster.” Monsters. Oct. 2002. Michael A. Delahoyde. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  4. BulletBurns, Alisa. “Frankenstein of the future.” monsters. Oct. 2002. Michael A. Delahoyde. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  5. Bullet“frankenstein: Penetrating the secrets of Nature.” united states national library of medicine. 12 Oct. 2009. web. 27 dec. 2009.

  6. Bulletrohrmoser Andreas, “The origin of a Myth: Mary Shelley’s Novel frankenstein.” frankensteinfilms.com. 2007. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Creator and creation

  1. BulletMoers, Ellen. “Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother.” frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & company, 1996. 214-224. Print.

  2. BulletGilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. “Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve.” frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & company, 1996. 225-240. Print.

  3. BulletShelley, Mary. “Introduction to frankenstein, Third edition (1831).” frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter, New York: W.W. Norton & company, 1996. 169-173. Print.

  4. BulletBushi, Ruth. “The Author is Become a Creator-God: The deification of Creativity in frankenstein.” mary shelley and frankenstein. 15 oct. 2002. Kim A. Woodbridge. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  5. Bulletrohrmoser Andreas, “The origin of a Myth: Mary Shelley’s Novel frankenstein.” frankensteinfilms.com. 2007. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  6. BulletJohnson, Zachary. “Luddite Influence in Mary Shelley’s frankenstein.” hamhock’s. 6 Dec. 1998. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  7. BulletSmith, Nicole. “Analysis of frankenstein by Mary shelley: Morality without god.” article myriad. 2009. web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  8. BulletBeal, Timothy Candler. religion and its monsters. 2002. Routledge. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Nature versus Nurture

  1. BulletShelley, Percy Bysshe. “On frankenstein.” frankenstein. Ed. J paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 185-186. Print.

  2. BulletJones, Bethany. “Masculinity in frankenstein: A product of nature or nurture?” associated content: Arts and entertainment. 3 oct. 2007. Associated Content. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  3. BulletWoodbridge, Kim A. “The ‘Birth’ of a Monster.” mary shelley and frankenstein. 26 Jun. 2001. Kim A Woodbridge. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  4. BulletCoulter, Susan. “frankenstein: A cautionary Tale of Bad Parenting.” mary shelley and frankenstein. 26 Jun. 2001. Kim A. Woodbridge. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.

  5. Bulletrohrmoser Andreas, “The origin of a Myth: Mary Shelley’s Novel frankenstein.” frankensteinfilms.com. 2007. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Citation Help

  1. BulletHacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 6th. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.

  2. BulletWarlick, David. Landmark’s Son of Citation Machine. The Landmark Project. web. 27 Dec. 2009.



Notes

  1. 1.Hunter, J. Paul. From the Preface of Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996, xi. Print.

  2. 2.Shelley, Mary. From the preface of Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996, 5. Print.

  3. 3.Waselko, David. “Frankenstein WebQuest.” Mr. Waselko. 30 Jan. 2005. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Credits

Video: “Frankenstein Trailer.” IMDb. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Image: “Bride of Frankenstein.” GoreMaster News. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Cartoon: Fairrington, Brian. “Cloningfrankenstein.” cagle’s politicalcartoons.com. Web. 27 Dec. 2009.


Layout: Apple iWork's iWeb.


Last updated: 27 Dec. 2009.


This WebQuest is licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.




 

I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together...

Introduction