For centuries children have experienced illnesses. Throughout history technology has made advances that have enhanced the quality of life for humans especially for children. Some diseases that once had a high mortality rate are now non-existent; for example, vaccines are used to prevent the disease from attacking the body. Families did not have access to doctors or medicine as they have now in our society. However, with all of the technology available there is still a need to educate people on illnesses that affect us today. In 2002 a survey showed among racial and ethnical groups, Puerto Ricans had the highest rate of lifetime asthma at 196 per 1,000 people. Mexicans had the lowest rate at 61 per 1,000, for non-Hispanic Blacks and Native Americans 25% were diagnosed with asthma over their white counterparts. Females diagnosed with asthma were 7% greater than males. Among children ages 0-17 the male would most likely be diagnosed with asthma at a rate of 139 per 1,000. One of the most prevalent illnesses that affect millions of people is asthma. Asthma affects the lungs thus inhibits a persons breathing.
The unit will (a) discuss what asthma is and who it affects, (b) discuss the drug delivery systems for treating asthma, and (c) correlate how asthma affects the respiratory/circulatory system with use of medicine. The unit will be designed for students in grades 4-6. It will include content, lesson plans, reading list, teacher resources and bibliography. Teachers can utilize this unit to familiarize students about the seriousness of asthma. Students will know how the illness occurs, how it can be treated and maintained.
I'm a fifth grade teacher at East Rock Magnet School. Our school has approximately 800 students, from K-8th grade. We have two full-time nurses. Our population is comprised of Special Needs Students. We have classes with handicapped children. Some of these children are on various medications for seizures, and upper respiratory conditions. There are also a few who have tubal feedings. The students at East Rock are familiar with these children. It's commonplace for our students to interact with them. Some of the children are able to be mainstreamed into regular classes. I feel it's important for the others to gain knowledge and an understanding of their medical conditions.
Students work in their classrooms as volunteers. They need to also know what the nurse's responsibilities are to these children. We also have a large percentage of non-disabled students who also have medical conditions. A large percentage of them have asthma. Their classmates must be informed about asthma and what to do in case of an emergency, or to prevent an attack. They need to know what the symptoms are, the types of medications that are available, and the most frequently used medications used by students at East Rock School.
The human body is part of the fifth grade science curriculum. In my classroom there are regular and special education students. The students are taught the same curriculum with modifications included in the subjects the students have difficulties with.
This curriculum unit is a journey through medicine that affects children in correlation to the illnesses and diseases that are prevalent among children in the United States. The unit will be designed to teach students Life Science, Ecology, Bio-Medicine, and Engineering. Science will be integrated with reading and language arts. The teachers have limited time to teach science in isolation. The Cross-Curriculum approach is an effective way to cover the various aspects of the fifth grade curriculum.
The students will experience a variety of activities that relate to human physiology and their functions. Working with the school nurse with hands-on demonstrations will prove to be very helpful. They will create graphs and charts after testing their heart rates and blood pressure. Experiments regarding the environment will be conducted by students working in cooperative groups. The students will conduct a survey of the student body. There will be questions created that relate to asthma and medications consumed by students. The research project discusses the drug delivery system for asthmatics and other conditions discovered through the survey completed by students.
