1. Homework Questions on p.16-19 of the GCSE Workbook Due in monday
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2. 19/04/2017

3. P12-15
Go through last weeks homework and make corrections
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4. B1 2.4 The Artificial Control of Fertility
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B1 2.4 The Artificial Control of Fertility
Text p.52-53

5. Oral contraceptives What does the pill contain?
Which female hormone does the pill inhibit? Why?
What was in the early pills?
Why was this not good?
What is in the pill now?
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6. Oral contraceptives Hormones FSH to stop follicles growing Oestrogen
What does the pill contain?
Which female hormone does the pill inhibit? Why?
What was in the early pills?
Why was this not good?
What is in the pill now? Why?
Hormones
FSH to stop follicles growing
Oestrogen
Side effects e.g. headaches
Lower oestrogen or progesterone; fewer side effects
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7. Oral contraceptives
oral contraceptives may contain oestrogen and progesterone to inhibit egg maturation
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8. Advantages and disadvantages of the contraceptive pill
Prevent unwanted pregnancies
Less poverty because smaller families
Controls population growth
Disadvantage
Does not protect from STD
Has to be taken regularly to be effective
Not available to everyone due to lack education, money, doctors etc.
Can cause health problems (linked to breast cancer and thrombosis)
Some religious groups say it denies life so not acceptable

9. Artificial control of fertility – Match the pairs and add to your notes.
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10. Answers
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11. How do we treat infertility n women?
Read p.52/3
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12. How does IVF work? 19/04/2017 Teacher notes
This eight-part sequence looks at how IVF is used to treat infertility. Stage 5 mentions pre-implantation diagnosis (PGD) and pre-implantation screening (PGS).
PGD is used to test for certain genetic diseases including cystic fibrosis, haemophilia, Huntingdon’s disease, sickle cell disease and some cancers. Some diseases, such as haemophilia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, only affect males. If there is a family history of the disease, only female embryos will be selected and implanted. More recently, a new type of testing, called Pre-implantation Genetic Haplotyping (PGH), has been developed that enables a much larger number of genetic diseases to be identified.
Some serious and life-threatening genetic diseases may possibly be treated with stem cells from a family member who has the same tissue type as the affected person.
See the ‘Genes and Genetic Engineering’ presentation for more information on PGD.

13. The fertilised eggs develop into embryos.
Fertility treatments
How can FSH be used?
What is IVF?
Make out a simple flow chart to show the stages of IVF
IVF involves giving a mother FSH and LH to stimulate the maturation and release of several eggs.
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The eggs are collected from the mother and fertilised by sperm from the father.
The fertilised eggs develop into embryos.
At the stage when they are tiny balls of cells, one or two embryos are inserted into the mother’s uterus (womb).

14. IVF and multiple births
Why does IVF increase the chances of multiple births?
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15. Multiple births and the risks of IVF
Multiple births are more likely with IVF because more than one embryo is implanted into the uterus to increase the chance of a successful pregnancy.
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Around 20% of IVF births are twins (compared with 1.25% of normal births), and 0.5% are triplets. The number of triplets was much higher years ago because more embryos were implanted at the same time.
Teacher notes
Data from the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (
Multiple births are the biggest risk of IVF for both the mother and babies. They are more likely to result in premature births, miscarriages, and long-term disability and ill health.

16. The cost of IVF
IVF is expensive – around £3,000 for the treatment itself, plus extra costs for consultation with doctors, drugs and tests. Freezing embryos for further attempts at IVF also costs extra.
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Couples may need to try IVF several times (each attempt is called a cycle) before it is successful.
About 25% of IVF treatments are funded by the NHS. Women aged between 23 and 39 years can get one free IVF cycle on the NHS.
Photo credit: Pasquale Sorrentino / Science Photo Library
Technician using a micro-needle to inject human sperm into a human egg cell. The Petri dish containing the egg cell is on the platform of a light microscope. This technique used in in vitro fertilization (IVF) is known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The injected sperm fertilizes the egg. The resulting zygote is then grown in the lab until it reaches an early stage of embryonic development. It is then implanted in the uterus. Several embryos are usually implanted to give the greatest chance of a successful pregnancy. However, this can result in multiple births. IVF allows infertile couples to conceive a child.
Teacher notes
Data from the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (

17. Should IVF treatment be free?
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Teacher notes
This evaluating opinions activity about the provision of free IVF. For example, students could be asked to get into groups and try to reach a consensus decision on whether they agree or disagree with the opinion on screen.
Alternatively, students could be asked to vote (possibly with traffic light cards) or individual students could be asked at random to give their opinion and justify it.
There are no correct answers for this activity.

18. Advantages and disadvantages of fertility treatment
Helps couples who can’t conceive a baby
Disadvantage
Health risks for mother
Expensive for society
Multiple birth risks
Costs money to keep premature babies alive
Ethical issues for society e.g. what to do with unwanted embryos
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19. Extension Answer summary questions on p.53 Louise Brown
Louise was the first test-tube baby born in 1978
Discuss what it might be like to be the first person born from a new treatment
Write a paragraph about how this might feel
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20. Syllabus
e) The uses of hormones in controlling fertility include: ■ giving oral contraceptives that contain hormones to inhibit FSH production so that no eggs mature – oral contraceptives may contain oestrogen and progesterone to inhibit egg maturation – the first birth-control pills contained large amounts of oestrogen. These resulted in women suffering significant side effects – birth-control pills now contain a much lower dose of oestrogen, or are progesterone only – progesterone-only pills lead to fewer side effects
■ giving FSH and LH in a ‘fertility drug’ to a woman whose own level of FSH is too low to stimulate eggs to mature, for example in In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment
– IVF involves giving a mother FSH and LH to stimulate the maturation of several eggs. The eggs are collected from the mother and fertilised by sperm from the father. The fertilised eggs develop into embryos. At the stage when they are tiny balls of cells, one or two embryos are inserted into the mother’s uterus (womb).
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