The big idea of the unit is that infectious diseases continue to emerge and infect humans due to the microbes' evolutionary response to change in their environment. Humans are not at a great advantage to reproduce as quickly as a microbe due to their more complex nature. Within this unit, teachers must be able to help guide students to an understanding of why infectious diseases are continuing to emerge and what we can do to help prevent a future infection through the exercise of wise decision making. The key ideas to address within the unit are: 1. Bacteria and viruses are not the same but can cause an infectious disease within a human; 2. Bacteria and viruses reproduce and function differently which may make it slightly difficult in developing treatments and cures for any disease; 3. Humans may be susceptible to diseases however; humans have evolved to defend itself from invading microbes to prevent diseases; and 4. Medical treatment of certain diseases may interfere with the body's natural defense mechanisms.
Throughout the unit, teachers should emphasize the scientific inquiry process through various hands on activities and labs. Students will follow the scientific method to investigate a science question (problem statement) and write lab reports that communicate their results from the lab. In addition, mathematical associations are incorporated so that students are able to analyze data and compare the growth of bacteria, viruses, and humans, which relates to the spread of infectious diseases. The classroom timeline of scientists allows the students to recognize the faces behind the science and visualize the scientific process, which includes trials and errors, necessary in the advancement of all sciences. Also, the timeline of scientists helps in encouraging young minds to continue practicing science and maintain their curiosity.
In order to develop a unit that is inclusive of the arts (i.e. music, dance, theatre, visual arts, creative writing), students will have opportunities to demonstrate biological processes through their respective arts by either drawing, creating a story, or acting. Student responsibility for acquiring knowledge is quintessential for student learning rather than teacher instruction. Discussion groups and debates, which may be inclusive of scientific literature, should be frequently incorporated within the units to allow students to share their reasoning. From the discussion, teachers should be able to facilitate by identifying and addressing any misconceptions. It would be even more beneficial if the students took on the facilitator's role during discussions. A sample lesson format has been identified below using the 5 E's learning model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate).
In order to capture student interest and engage them with the curriculum unit topic, it is suggested that a simple activity is presented to encourage a small group discussion. A video on a current infectious disease would be helpful in exciting students and stimulating their thinking about infectious diseases. After the movie, a guided whole group discussion would be beneficial for students to share their ideas and thoughts to one another. Another useful approach to a video would be a KWL chart, in which students are part of a whole group discussion on what they know about the subject already (W), what they want to know (K), and what they've learned after the discussion (L). The KWL chart is very beneficial to the teacher in preassessing student understanding before teaching. Other options include a small laboratory demonstration or a critical reading activity to replace the video.
After completing the engagement activity, the next step would be for students to explore one or more of the concepts discussed in the engagement activity. Students may investigate a specific infectious disease, its symptoms, transmission, and the current treatment methods for the disease. Providing the opportunity for students to acquire knowledge through their own investigation is imperative for their learning. The assignment should be a long term assignment that provides adequate time for researching and asking questions. Also, it is suggested that students not only explore the content involved with microbiology but the scientists involved in the development of the microbiology and evolutionary biology field. Students will have the option of choosing one or two scientists who have contributed to the field of evolutionary biology and/or microbiology, in order to create a classroom timeline that presents the many faces behind past and current scientific work and processes involved in our current scientific discoveries. The timeline should request for students to investigate the lives of the scientists and the actual processes involved in their development of new scientific theories, ideas, and discoveries. The activity may be differentiated based upon student learning abilities by either providing resources that may assist in research, developing research guidelines, and creating student groups. (A list of scientists has been provided). In order to create a more challenging research opportunity, students may be required to complete a more formalized and in depth bibliography that coincides with their research topic.
While students are working on their independent research assignments, class time should be lent towards instruction through lecture, laboratory, and discussion, which allows explanation and elaboration. Students need to be informed of the definition of an infectious disease and how an infectious disease is transmitted. The best way to illustrate the concept of an infectious disease transmission would be the virology lab, where students mimic the passing of body fluid and infectious disease. The lab clearly illustrates the fact that anyone can be at risk of acquiring an infectious disease and disease can spread rapidly. The lab introduces the concept of transmission factors and it investigates transmission rates. Students can use the mathematical approach to predict the number of students to become infected over a period of time or use ratios to understand how quickly the disease spread. To go further, students can apply the mathematical understanding to reading human population growth curves to identify where human populations have been impacted by infectious diseases (examples include bubonic plague, smallpox, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and influenza).
Also, students need to be able to identify what are the causes of an infectious disease. Students should be able to distinguish between a bacteria and virus, while knowing that they reproduce at a much faster rate than humans making humans vulnerable to some bacteria and viruses. Bacteria and viruses also evolve a lot faster due to their reproductive abilities, which encourages high genetic variability. Teachers may choose to have students read within the textbook how viruses and bacteria reproduce. It may be necessary to differentiate the instruction by using more or less detail when describing the replication process. Students who are part of a more advanced biology course could further investigate fungus, prions, protozoan, and/ or helminths. However, the focus of comparing reproduction of the bacteria to the virus is to show that viruses and bacteria are not exactly the same because they do not share similar characteristics in regards to replication, structure, and function. Therefore, if the bacteria and viruses are not similar, then, they must be treated differently when trying to eliminate.
In reference to treatment and cures of infectious diseases, students need to understand that not all treatments work effectively in killing the pathogen and must be specific to the microbe it is killing. This concept can be illustrated through another hands on lab called the bacteria inhibition lab, which allows students to observe the growth of bacteria populations, while identifying the factors that inhibit the growth of bacteria, such as antibiotic use. Students may grow bacteria in petri dishes and use different mechanisms to prevent the bacteria from growing. Viruses, compared to bacteria, require a completely different treatment, which needs to be addressed within the student discussions or lecture. It would be beneficial for the students to have a classroom speaker, who would be able to discuss the different treatment options available and the current medical treatment research as an elaboration piece. It is equally important for students to understand that humans have evolved to develop their own mechanisms of self defense that prevents microbes from harming us. Students should be able to identify natural evolutionary responses that prevent us from becoming ill.
Finally, all students should be able to synthesize their independent research projects, labs, lectures, discussions, videos, and readings to evaluate whether or not genetic variability and evolution is valuable to humans and if all medical treatment options are beneficial to humans or not. Students should be able to debate on the current use of medicine for treating patients, while answering the following essential questions:
|
1.
|
Is it possible to prevent becoming ill by a microbe?
|
|
2.
|
How often should prescription medicine be used to treat an illness?
|
|
3.
|
Should there be a universal healthcare to help those who are ill? And prevent others from becoming ill?
|
|
4.
|
Should doctors be required to have a background in evolutionary biology in order to accurately treat patients?
|
