How does the inner ear develop into a sensitive hearing and balance organ?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Professor Andy Groves, a developmental biologist at Baylor College of Medicine, USA. He and his team are investigating how hair cells in the inner ear develop and how they have evolved.

• This resource also contains an interview with Andy and his students and offers an insight into careers in developmental biology. If your students have questions for Andy, they can send them to him through the Futurum Careers website.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Andy’s research and challenges them to explore how model organisms are used to study human development.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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