Clue 1: Orient yourself
What are the main parts, stages, or choices in this model?
Use the labels and the picture's left-to-right, near-to-far, or before-and-after order. Name only what you can point to.
The question
How does a face grow from separate pieces into one connected shape?
Why it matters: CDC estimates that about 1 in 1,031 U.S. babies has cleft lip with or without cleft palate, and about 1 in 1,563 has cleft palate alone. If 30 people each later had one baby, the population average would be about 0.05 affected births. That is roughly one affected birth across 21 classrooms of 30, not one in every class. The lip and palate form during short windows early in pregnancy, so the build sequence shows a research or care team where to investigate.
On your WebXam
You can put developmental steps in order and identify when body structures normally join.
For life
One result can have many causes; the outcome alone never tells you which.
Principle: Many roads, one ending
Try the everyday version first
Many roads, one ending
Five puzzle pieces become one shape only when each piece grows toward, meets, and joins the correct neighbor in the right order.
Do not jump to the biology yet. Treat the picture as a small system. Track its parts, follow one change at a time, and keep more than one explanation open until the picture supplies a way to separate them.
Clue 2: Trace one change
What changes while the other parts stay the same?
Follow one object, stage, or path. Point to the first place where the situation changes instead of jumping to the ending.
Clue 3: Keep the cause open
What check would separate two explanations that still fit the picture?
List more than one explanation that still fits. Name the extra observation that would help you separate those possibilities.
Now inspect the illustration
Work from the visible evidence. A useful answer names the part of the picture that supports it and leaves unknown causes open.
- 1What are the main parts, stages, or choices in this model?
- 2What changes while the other parts stay the same?
- 3What check would separate two explanations that still fit the picture?
Tier 1 check
Finish with the everyday model
Use the puzzle to explain how separate pieces become one connected shape and what stays open if one misses its neighbor.
Answer in plain words. You can finish this required check without opening either optional section below.
Ready for the real names? Optional tier 2
Craniofacial Research Track
Session 2The Case Opens, SeptemberLens: PBS
How a face is built, weeks 4 to 12
Discovery question
How does a face grow from separate pieces into one connected shape?
Many roads, one ending. A final opening can begin when a part grows too little, arrives too late, or does not finish joining.
Before this page, you should know
- A lip is a gap in the upper lip. A cleft is an opening in the roof of the mouth. A person can have one or both.
- Mateo is a composite patient, built from published science, so no real person's private information is used.
If not, review
Today's new idea is only
Many roads, one ending. A final opening can begin when a part grows too little, arrives too late, or does not finish joining.
Goal: Put the main face-building steps in order and identify when the lip and roof of the mouth normally join.
Know by the end
- Five prominences (one frontonasal, two maxillary, two mandibular) grow and fuse to form the face.
- The five prominences are a simplified map. The upper lip and primary depend especially on among the maxillary and the medial nasal prominences; the mandibular prominences mainly form the lower jaw.
- The upper lip and primary form around weeks 6 to 7; the secondary palate fuses around weeks 8 to 12.
- means two growing edges meet at the and join into one continuous structure.
- Each step has a critical window: it must happen correctly within a limited time.
1
The five prominences
Model start: The forms the forehead, bridge of the nose, and the center of the upper lip.
- Label a simple face diagram with the frontonasal, maxillary (x2), and mandibular (x2) prominences.
- Draw arrows showing the direction each grows.
2
A timeline of fusion
Model start: Around weeks 6 to 7, the prominences that build the upper lip meet at the .
- Make a timeline from week 4 to week 12 and mark when the lip forms and when the fuses.
- Circle the window when a problem would lead to a lip, and the window for a cleft .
3
What has to go right
- In your own words, define and why timing matters.
- Predict: what happens to the lip if two prominences grow but do not meet?
MedlinePlus
Open the tool Plain-language explanations of a gene or condition, written for patients and families.
When you use this: Use this when a research paper is too dense, or when you need to explain a finding to Mateo's family in everyday words.
What the screen looks like
Step by step
- 1Open medlineplus.gov/genetics and search the gene or condition (IRF6).
- 2Read the summary written in everyday words.
- 3Note the conditions the gene is linked to at the bottom of the page.
Capture these fields
- Topic: IRF6 gene
- Plain-language summary: IRF6 helps the tissues of the face join correctly before birth.
- Linked conditions: Van der Woude syndrome; nonsyndromic cleft
How to read it: Start here when a research paper is too dense. MedlinePlus gives you the gist in everyday words so you can go back to the harder source knowing what it is about.
Lost? About MedlinePlus Genetics
Level 1, Guided
Use the sentence starters, a word bank from the vocabulary, a labeled diagram, and the exact source link.
Level 2, Collaborative
Complete a partly blank model or table and explain it.
Level 3, Independent
Make a claim from a new example or an unfamiliar entry in the same database.
Team roles
- Manager: keeps the group moving
- Recorder: writes the shared model or table
- Evidence checker: verifies each claim against the source
- Reporter: explains the group's reasoning
Process reflection
- What evidence changed your thinking today?
- What did your group disagree about, and how did you resolve it?
- What question is still unresolved?
By the end of this session, submit ONE of: a labeled diagram with a 2-sentence explanation; a claim, evidence, reasoning paragraph; a completed data table from a real database; or a one-question exit ticket using today's vocabulary.
Meets standard if your explanation correctly connects structure, timing, gene or protein function, or evidence source to Mateo's case: Put the main face-building steps in order and identify when the lip and roof of the mouth normally join.
How this is graded (rubric)
For: Put the main face-building steps in order and identify when the lip and roof of the mouth normally join.
| Criterion | Proficient | Developing | Beginning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete | Every required part of the artifact is present and filled in. | Most parts are present, but one is missing or left blank. | Several parts are missing. |
| Accurate | The science and data are correct and match the evidence. | Mostly correct, with a small factual slip. | Key science or data is wrong. |
| Scientific reasoning (CER) | States a claim, backs it with specific evidence, and explains the reasoning. | Has a claim and evidence, but the reasoning is thin or missing. | Gives an answer with no evidence or reasoning. |
| Professional communication | Clear, organized, and labeled the way a clinician or scientist would write it. | Readable but disorganized or missing labels. | Hard to follow. |
| Submitted | Turned in through the route named under Submit here and confirmed. | Turned in, but in the wrong place or unconfirmed. | Not turned in. |
How the model answer scores against this rubric
- CompleteProficient: Nothing is left blank: the model fills every part of "Put the main face-building steps in order and identify when the lip and roof of the mouth normally join.".
- AccurateProficient: Every number and claim matches the case evidence.
- Scientific reasoning (CER)Proficient: It names a claim, cites the specific evidence, and explains the reasoning, not just the answer.
- Professional communicationProficient: It is organized and labeled like a real chart note.
- SubmittedProficient: It would be attached to your class form or handed in, and confirmed.
Go deeper Optional tier 3
Everything required is above. Open this section only if you want the research reading and source trail.
Student reading
The idea in plain English
How does a face grow from separate pieces into one connected shape?
Five puzzle pieces become one shape only when each piece grows toward, meets, and joins the correct neighbor in the right order.
Many roads, one ending. A final opening can begin when a part grows too little, arrives too late, or does not finish joining.
- Five prominences (one frontonasal, two maxillary, two mandibular) grow and fuse to form the face.
- The five prominences are a simplified map. The upper lip and primary depend especially on among the maxillary and the medial nasal prominences; the mandibular prominences mainly form the lower jaw.
- The upper lip and primary form around weeks 6 to 7; the secondary palate fuses around weeks 8 to 12.
- means two growing edges meet at the and join into one continuous structure.
- Each step has a critical window: it must happen correctly within a limited time.
This lesson reading is written from the vetted sources in the advanced citation trail below.
Everything you need for today is on this page. These links are optional.
What to read
Read the short plain-language explanation written for this lesson. Plain-language reading for this session
Why this source matters
This explanation gives you the background for today's idea without making you decode a research paper: Many roads, one ending. A final opening can begin when a part grows too little, arrives too late, or does not finish joining.
Words to unlock first
Reading moves
- Skim the title and abstract first to get the gist.
- Circle the one sentence that states the main claim.
- Box the evidence the authors give for that claim.
- Mark one sentence that confuses you, and move on.
Stop point
Stop after the final 'Use it now' section. The research citations are available separately for advanced readers.
Your output
Write one claim-evidence sentence: state the main idea, then name the example or evidence that supports it.
These records and papers document the science. They are not assigned student reading. Use the plain-language lesson reading above unless your teacher asks you to inspect an original source.