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Covening Packet
Is our school sabotaging our cells?

7th Grade Curriculum Unit on Cells

Sarah Hendrickson and Katie McClanahan

Table of Contents Convening Letter.p.3-7 Macro Intro..8 Macro 9-12 Standards..1 3 Lessons: Day 1: What do cells have to do with my health?....14 Introduction to final project..15 Symposium criteria.16 Blog criteria..17 Day 2: What causes the common cold?.....................18-20 Day 3: Can being indoors make us sick?...................21-23 Day 4: Whats my risk?...............................................24-26 Day 5: Whats the unhealthiest place in school?......27-29 Challenge Board..29 Assessment Rubric

30 Take Home Summative Test..31

Cover Letter (or woohoo! its finally done. Well sorta.)

Dear fellow conveners, You have in your hands (or on your computers) a work in progress. The product you see before you represents many long hard hours of work. We have consumed too many cups of caffeinated beverages, lost numerous hours of sleep, wracked our brains until they hurt, experienced road blocks, setbacks and been to the edge and back. As many of you are experiencing the same thing (or already have) please help us to polish and fine-tune our creation. Through the designing process, we have developed a new and greater understanding of ourselves and at the very least a basic understanding of how to write a science curriculum. This has been a remarkable journey for both of us. Thank you for coming along and being a part of it. In this curriculum, you hear not one but two voices. As individuals, we both have many ideas (some better than others). We worked hard to merge our ideas into a coherent balance of creativity, risk and discovery. While working with another person and merging thoughts and ideas is definitely challenging, its great being able to brainstorm and reflect on different thoughts and viewpoints. We both believe that a real world application of scientific concepts is absolutely essential to good science curriculums. Students need to be able to relate to what theyre learning in school. And as you incorporate students lives, questions, concerns and inquiry into your curriculum and classroom, this will (hopefully) lead to intrinsic motivation. As we thought about topics, we choose to craft a curriculum around cells, as this is a required standard of middle school students. We both hope to modify, expand and use this curriculum in our future careers as middle

4 school science teachers. So, as we set sail on this expedition, we asked ourselves, how can we make learning about cells fun? We have all had boring, horrible and totally forgettable cell lectures and labs. As students, we thought about how we would want to be taught about cells. As teachers, we asked ourselves, how best to make cells and cellular concepts relevant to students, and make sure we are meeting state standards. As we banged our heads against a wall, we thought, wow, this wall is kinda dirty, I wonder whats growing on it.and lo and behold, a thought came to mind. Where do we spend most of our time.in school! This got us to thinking about how exactly does school or more specifically, the school environment itself, affect our cells? So we ask this question, is school making us sick (on a cellular level) and (how) can we do something about it? We challenge students to investigate their school and develop a working definition of health and what it means to be healthy. The first week starts with the question, what do cells have to do with my health? This question introduces the premise of the unit by focusing on the cellular level and asking students to look at health from a cellular perspective. When you get right down to it, health depends on what happens to your cells. As one considers what makes a person healthy, rarely does one consider looking at health on a cellular level. This theme is the basis of the entire curriculum and (hopefully) creates coherence. As we do this, we seek to expose students to new ideas and inquiry based thinking. Students spend a LOT of time in school. Up to eight hours a day, five days a week and sometimes more. As students will come to realize that it is their cells and their friends cells which are at risk. As this directly impacts and affects students, we create an opportunity for real world problem solving and relevance, as hope to create a lasting impression. We want them to be able to remember what they learned about cells (at least the basics) and build upon this knowledge. We want students to learn for life, and not just the test. The driving motivation for the creation of action plans, is that it is the students cells are at risk and they can do something about it. Motivation is a tricky thing. It can both help and hinder. It can be incredibly powerful if used right, (eg. a piata) and create the space for active engagement and authentic learning. Or it can be limiting and distracting (like candy). So we struggled with this idea as we sought to make our unit, fun, engaging and overall, relevant. The unit comes to a grand finale in a student run symposium. Student projects will be presented to teachers, faculty, local community members and student peers.

5 Students are challenged to research, create and present a proposal to the school, which seeks to answer the question, what is one way to improve the health of the school? In order to answer this question, students will draw upon their knowledge of cells and the scientific method, and other tools we provide, to hypothesize, create experiments, analyze and report their findings. While the unit is written for a month, it by no means has a time constraint. Many of the lessons can be stretched and can be expanded upon, or even shrunk to fit specific needs. It is also by no means limited to one scientific concept. Many of the activities involve systems thinking and call for the merging of many concepts. As we searched for ideas we found that we needed to look in a variety of places. Our curriculum covers concepts on cells, health and the human body, and environmental health. Throughout the unit we ask our students to develop an environmental health assessment of their school. Lessons during the unit help them with this, as the concepts we introduce reinforce and explore scientific cell concepts while maintaining our bottom lines. Have we effectively balanced covering the complexities of cells while successfully assessing overall school health? Is it coherent enough? Bottom Lines: While designing this curriculum we tried to stick to our bottom lines. We believe the key to any good curriculum is student relevance. With the application of real world problem solving this objective can be reached. As this can be unique and individual to the student, there can be space for authentic learning. Also embedded within the curriculum are inquiry assessments, which can be based on a variety of things, including performance. Student choice is also essential and helps foster empowerment, encouraging students tackling challenges inside and outside the classroom. Student opinions are taken seriously and incorporated into the curriculum, as we work with them to build upon current understandings and rework misconceptions. The curriculum is also community oriented and includes a systems thinking approach, as many different subject areas are addressed. Lastly, the curriculum is fun and encourages play, which helps to create a positive classroom culture. Where were stuck: Currently were having trouble designing for the complexities of cells, while maintaining our working theme of health. We want our curriculum to be full of problem solving and inquiry but it is hard to make sure students really understand the parts of the cell and cell function. Our unit covers so many concepts and it is hard narrowing down and sorting through all our ideas. We are curious if we have developed our curriculum enough around the standards? Would the

6 students come out of this curriculum being able to achieve a high score on the cellular biology component on the state test? What we are afraid of: We are worried that this unit will take more time than 4 weeks to do a sufficient job. Cells are a challenging topic and can seem abstract to students. The real life application component of this unit will hopefully create student relevance but hopefully it does not confuse students. We built in an extra week to discuss and evaluate the symposium experience We are concerned with involving the entire school, and receiving the cooperation of the school board. Who wants a group of middle school students pointing out different aspects that will take time and money to change? We need to find a way to effectively engage the school community and present both a proposal for the project and receive the support of the principal and school board. As far as presentation style, what would be most effective for a student symposium? Which community members should be involved? How should/can we get the rest of the school involved in our project as well? Curriculum Review: One curriculum we chose to review came from an online curriculum resource called Active Learning Practice for Schools (ALPS): A Year of 8th Grade Science with Bill McWeeny: The cell unit. The structure of this unit helped to lead us to core cell biology principles. Most of the cell curriculums we found were dry and boring. They were prescribed lessons with norm-referencing assessment. While they adhere very closely to state standards they are not fun and engaging or inquiry based. Perhaps we are of the new school of thinking, or as a result of this class, but we both believe the lessons could be more FUN! The only use of finding this curriculum is to reinforce the idea that we do not want to design a cell curriculum like this. Our searches did turn up a few fun activity ideas that we want to try and adapt to meet our needs. In particular, one unit was called the Diversity of Life, based on cells, which seems helpful and fun. Classroom Observations: Based on our classroom observations, prescribed labs are not meaningful for students. Students work best when they are allowed to design their own experiments. It is best to assign them a task, or an end goal, and to simply facilitate them getting there. Sarah watched a classroom of sixth graders as they followed a step-by-step lab procedure. It was all too familiar to her as she felt herself remembering her earth science labs when she would meticulously follow every step as to produce the same results as everyone else. As she observed, she wanted to jump in and ask

7 students before they even looked at their worksheet, if there was a way that they could test the weathering of two rocks. The students could have potentially come up with the same method or most likely something better than the prescribed lab. If the teacher had allowed the students to create their own experiments, the learning potential would have exponentially increased. This propelled her to one of her bottom lines of developing lessons that driven by student choice. Katie found that student groups work very well. When students were each held responsible in some way, they were more actively engaged. She found that when groups were either assigned or picked, a unique classroom culture would develop. In the class she observed, each group was issued a challenge, relating to the topic of the day, and had the responsibility of presenting their findings to the class at the end. Interviews: Standards: Current teachers are all very concerned about the same things, standards and the dreaded state standardized tests. Due to the fact that teachers have to make sure students know the tests, they miss out on key learning opportunities that elicit creative reflective thought. They are being pushed to teach to the test and not to life. Inquiry: Teachers agree that inquiry takes time and students need to be allowed the time for inquiry. Students need experience the process of getting frustrated. They dont need the answers right away, they need a little struggle to create depth in understanding. Time: Time is an important factor. It is very necessary to BUILD IN TIME for FLEXIBLITY. In other words, a good curriculum needs built in flexibility. This allow allows for authentic moments, and to be able to go off on tangents when necessary. This allows for those moments when students are just not getting it or for when they get it ahead of schedule. Assessment: It is important to have a pre-established evidence base on which students can be assessed. This allows you to check their progress (pre-determined by you) and see where they are in relation to it. Teachers have mixed feelings on homework. It was found that there is a certain stigima that is associated with homework and tests. One teacher said simply, I dont call them tests. The kids kinda freak out when you say test. But rather I call them check-ins and check-ups. We all feel better that way. One student interviewed understood the necessity of tests and homework, and said it was good because, it helps you learn. When asked what good homework looked like he said, Diagrams! And posters! And projects!

And now we would like to hand over this work in progress and solicit your feedback. Yes, yes you have to workbut we will give you ice cream!!!!

Convening Session Breakdown

From our experience with the convenings so far this semester we feel that its best to simplify the questions and provide ample time for depth to occur.

Sequence 10 min clarifying Qs 20 min Macro Sess -How is our sequencing and flow (aka coherence) for the entire unit, and specifically, for the first week? 10 min share 20 min Micro Sess -Do our activities support and provide our students with the knowledge and tools they need in order to create their final projects? 10 min share

Thank you for your wisdom and generosity!! We really appreciate honest feedback so please dont hold back.

Sincerely, Katie and Sarah

Standard inspection report

Wanted: Students health inspectors to conduct environmental health investigations in their school Looking at: exposure and risk to cells. Duration: 4 weeks Considerations: cell health, environmental health. Questions to consider: What is a healthy cell? How do I keep mine healthy? Where am I at risk? Where are the unhealthy places in school? What are the ideal conditions for a cell to live? Location: Rooms in the school building; classroom, gym, cafeteria, hallways, bathrooms, etc. Things to look for: air quality, mold, bacteria growth, dust, pests, chemicals, etc Resources: community members, teachers, school staff, internet, books etc. Who needs to know: students, school staff, school board, community members. Reports to be presented to the school board at the end of the month

Science standard(s) Cells carry on The Big Ideas the many functions needed to Science sustain and standard(s) support life. Specialized cells All organisms perform are composed of specialized cellsthe functions in fundamental multicellular unit of life. organisms Most organisms are single cells; Use appropriate other organisms tools and are multicellular techniques to including gather, analyze, humans. and interpret data Design and conduct a scientific investigation

Students assess TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Introduction to what theyre Students carry good bacteria eating for out cells lunch. Then What dotheir have such as in our What causes Can being experiments stomachs and question where to do with my the common indoors make conducted on probiotics. their foods health? cold? us sick? Friday Analyze Discussion come from and and interpret around what are Discussion: Discussion of Take a Stand data healthy foods. - Introduction to decomposition misconceptions what it means to Mini-lecture Conclusion and Activity: Lab: Students be healthy of Mini-lecture - Introduction Inside or Out? investigate the how cells are the Students start -Intro to to (from players. a compost bin contents of pivotal day 3) diseases, Environmental in their their lunch and viruses and Health, testing Guest Speaker: classroom to Mini-lab: Students cells gone bad! identify and methods, and Custodian monitor plant their look at healthy - Intro to what experimental decomposition eating. and unhealthy a prokaryotic design rates from cells from cell is YouTube: different organs decay bacteria. Priceless School under a YouTube: Flu Activity: Lunch microscope Attack! How a Inside or Out? virus invades Guest Speaker: Introduction and your body Homework: School Food description of Homework: Blog about your Preparer student project Activity/Lab: Blog about favorite food and classroom Virus, Bacteria ideas you have and where it blog or Other for how we can came from. improve our Homework: Blog schools health about concerns Homework: Play you have over the Cell Craft final project

ContLab: Where is the unhealthiest place in school? MONDAY

Are bacteria Whats for Are plants Is our school there sabotaging our cells? just out lunch? helpful? to get us? - Intro to plant THURSDAY cells, and the difference between animal Whats my and plant cells. Risk? - Importance of photosynthesis. Activity: What the Lab: Students Hazard look at vegetable/ fruit Mini-lecture: cells under What are our microscope that cells exposed were collected to? samples from their lunch Brainstorm: - What is our Use of plants school already for medicinal doing in terms purposes of health and how can we improve it? Homework: Blog prompt: - Students What do your generate a list cells need to of questions to survive? ask the school nurse

What are the ideal living conditions of a cell? FRIDAY Identifying that there are Where is the different needs unhealthiest for survival. place in school? Lab: Pet Cell Guest Speaker: Students create School Nurse an experiment where they Lab: manipulate Students are their own cell challenged to culture. find the unhealthiest Design the ideal place in school. home for your (Potential for cell to live. culminating What does it projects) need to grow, eat etc. Homework: Blog about the variable that your testing by providing interesting/gros s facts

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Science standard(s) Cells grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. This requires that they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs

How do I know theyre my cells? - Identifying the differences between eukaryotes (animal/human cells) and prokaryotes, cell parts. - Building upon students knowledge of plant and bacterial/viral cells Students build models of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells Homework: Blog Analogy of cell functions, eg. Cells are like factories

Whats really going on inside your cells? - Cells are specialized - Different cells perform different functions Activity: Know your role! Whats your role? Students show understanding of cell functions through acting out cell roles

Are some cells out of control? What is cancer? What causes cancer and can we control who gets it? Mini-lecture: Good cells gone bad. Identification of the difference between cancer and normal cells Activity: Research misconceptions around cancer such as cell phones, microwaves, Xrays, sun radiation. Then look into preventative measures Homework: Blog about how cancer cells are different from normal cells

Are there cells that are able to wear many different hats? Mini-lecture Introduction to stem cells Can they help cancer patients? Students research case studies

Where can we find stem cells? Youtube: New Heart Built with Stem Cells Activity: Students finish their research and present findings of different case studies where stem cells have improved lives.

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Continuing to Science standard(s) Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence. Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations. Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions Student mini presentations with peer feedback. Student mini presentations with peer feedback Student mini presentations with peer feedback Student proposals (symposium) Present to school and community members proposals to improve some aspect of school health. Emphasis in building upon what the school is already doing. Week 5 Final discussion after symposium Based on everything youve learned this unithow can we take this a step further? Development of action plans Homework: Blog about symposium experience

Time to work on final projects

Time to work on final projects

Time to work on final projects

GRADES 6-8 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN LIVING SYSTEM Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems. All organisms are composed of cellsthe fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are single cells; other organisms, including humans, are multicellular. Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. This requires that they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs. Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs. Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole. SCIENCE AS INQUIRY

Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations. Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret data. Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using

15 evidence. Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations. Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions. Using mathematics in all aspect of scientific inquiry

Micro Curriculum

Day 1: What do cells have to do with my health?

Goals: Student understanding that cells are the determiners of health Essential Questions: What is health? What are we made of? Objectives: Introduction to what it means to be healthy and how cells are the pivotal players.

Sequence
Discussion/Break outs: Introduction to what it means to be healthy and how cells are the pivotal players. Students will first compare a healthy heart and an unhealthy heart, and then discuss how to keep your heart healthy. They will then break out into small groups to discuss what keeps you healthy and what causes poor health. Mini-lab: Students look at healthy and unhealthy cells from different organs under a microscope Final project intro/presentation criteria Introduction to class blog Homework: Blog

Teachers notes: Discussion & Break Outs Goals: Student understanding that we are comprised of cells and that there are different levels of organization. Objectives: Cells are the building blocks of life and are what helps us to stay healthy. Discussion will begin will the comparison of 2 hearts. We will show the class a healthy heart first then show them a diseased heart. Students will be asked, Why do these hearts look different? Why do you think one looks

16 healthy and the other doesnt? Students then break into small groups to discuss what causes a person to be healthy. Class reconvenes and shares. Then it will be explained that all organs are comprised of cells and they are the true determiners of health. Mini Lab: Students will then head over to the microscopes and look at slides of diseased and healthy cells from all the major organs in the bodies. They will record their findings and make comparisons.

Introduction of Final Project

Dear students,

This month you will need use your curiosity, creativity and problemsolving skills to unravel the mysteries of your school building. In this unit we will delve into the microscopic world of cells and investigate how certain aspects of our school impact our cell health. Together we will inspect our school and create research projects for improving for the overall health of the school. This will occur in four parts. First you will need to identify a potential problem and do background research on a particular health risk in your school. Second you will need to construct a hypothesis and design an experiment to test the hypothesis. Third you will need to analyze the results and interpret the data. Finally, you will present your findings in a symposium where you will propose potential improvements to the school board. Good luck!!!!! From the list below choose a location and a variable to help guide you through your investigation:

Location
Cafeteria Gym Bathroom

Variables
Mold Air Bacteria

17 Classroom of your choice Hallways Computer Room Library Your choice Water Food Dust Pests Your choice

For example, you could test for mold in the cafeteria. Or, you may choose one variable and test for it in many locations. The choice is yours!

Symposium Presentation Guide

Students will use this as a guideline for their final presentation to the school board and other community members:

Presentation Components

Representative Types of Visual Aids

Introduction 1. Introduce yourself 2. Tell your audience how you became interesting in your topic 3. State the problem 4. Review pertinent background information on variables and prior research 5. State your hypothesis Procedure (Materials and Methods) 1. Describe the design of the experiment 2. Describe the experimental procedures 3. Explain how the data was analyzed Results 1. Display the results 2. Describe the results

Use visual aids to help that display the problem

Diagram of the experiment and a list of materials used

Tables or graphs

18 Discussion-Conclusion 1. Summarize major findings 2. Compare findings with other research 3. Suggest improvements and suggestions

Use visual aids, such as photographs

Class Website and Blogs On our class webpage, we will post classroom assignments, blog prompts and additional resources; such as videos, and things weve used in class. Each student will maintain an individual blog on which they will post when prompted, or whenever they feel like it. Students can choose to have their postings available to their classmates or keep them private. The motivation to keep a daily blog is because it will help them prepare for their summative test. Sample Prompt Questions: What concerns you about the final project? What do you understand and what needs further clarification? What concerns do you have about using a blog?

Teacher Notes: We will use the website and blogs to monitor, assess and check in with students. No one but us will see their blogs, so they will be free to voice their individual opinions, free from their peers.

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Day 2:

What causes the common cold?

Goals: Student understanding of the difference between virus and bacteria and how it impacts our health. Essential Questions: What is a prokaryotic cell? Whats the difference between a virus and bacteria? Objectives: Introduction to what causes diseases. What are the characteristics of a prokaryotic cell. How to use a microscope.

Sequence
Class Discussion: How do we catch a cold? Mini Lecture: What is the common cold? Difference between a virus and bacteria infection. Brief introduction to diseases and cells gone bad. Explanation of how our bodies react to viruses. YouTube: Flu Attack! How a virus invades your body Activity/Lab: Virus, Bacteria or Other Homework: Play Cell Craft

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Teacher Notes: Virus, Bacteria or Other Activity Students will break into groups of 4 and will have 15 min to complete the challenge Each group will receive cards of the unknown illness, disease or aliment and have to determine if its a virus, bacteria or an other. They can use the internet, books, or any resources they can think of. Once they determine what the unknown is, they will have to place their card in the appropriate place on the disease board. The goal is to get 5 in a row before the other groups. The first group to get a row wins List of the cards given to students Unknowns Mononucleosis Plague Malaria Chicken Pox Cholera Influenza (flu) Cancer Measles Meningitis Pneumonia Strep Tuberculosis Rabies Mad Cow Disease Ebola West Nile Virus The common cold Board:
Virus Bacteria Bacteria Virus Bacteria Other Virus Bacteria Other Virus Other Bacteria Virus Bacteria Bacteria Virus Virus Bacteria Other Virus

Virus Bacteria Parasite (other) Virus Virus Virus Other Virus Bacteria & Virus Bacteria Bacteria Bacteria Prions (other) Virus Virus Virus Virus

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We will then use the microscopes to look at slides of the unknowns.

WORKSHEET
NAME:

FOR LAB:

Virus, bacteria or other?

CHALLENGE: Students decide whether certain illnesses, diseases and other ailments are caused by viruses, bacteria or other sources. Materials: - Microscopes - Viral samples Findings: - Bacterial samples - Mystery samples

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Conclusion: What were some similarities and differences you noticed between the samples?

Day 3: Can being indoors make us sick?

Goals: Student understanding of environmental health issues associated with being indoors Essential Questions: Is our health affected by being indoors? Objectives: Introduction to Environmental Health, testing methods and experimental design

Sequence
Take a Stand: Can being indoors make us sick? Mini Lecure: What is environmental health? How are we at risk? Introduction to the impacts of air pollution. Activity: Inside or out? Students determine if air is cleaner inside of the buidling or outside, Homework: Blog

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ACTIVITY WORKSHEET:
NAME:

Inside or Out?
Challenge: Determine if air is cleaner inside or outside the building. Materials: glass jars with a wide opening (such as a mayonnaise or jelly jar) petroleum jelly cotton swabs masking tape map of school hand lenses and microscopes transparent tape

Procedure: 1. Using cotton swabs, spread petroleum jelly on the entire inside surface of the jar.

24 You dont need a lotjust enough to make the surface of the glass sticky. This is your testing device. Using a permanent marker on strips of masking tape, write your name and the date and put the label on the outside of your jar. 2. With your partner, choose a location inside the school or outdoors to collect your sample. You will need to leave your jar in the same spot for at least a week, so select a spot that will not be disturbed. In your classroom, mark the location of your jars on a map of the school grounds. 3. Place your jar in the selected spot. If you are using a camera to document your experiment, take a picture of the starting phase. You may want to leave a note explaining the experiment and asking that the jar not be disturbed. 4. During the next few days take notes, make sketches, or take photographs to show the changes to the inside of the jar. 5. One Monday we will bring our jars back to class. Use a hand-held lens to inspect the particles stuck to the glass. If you have microscopes available, you can collect samples from your jar by pressing transparent tape against the particles, then placing the tape on a microscope slide. Try to identify the particles.

Findings: Day 1 Day 2 Day 5

Conclusion: Compare your ndings with the ndings of other people in your class. What are the differences between the indoor and outdoor air samples? Which location had the most airborne particles? Which had the least? What are possible explanations for your class results? Teachers Notes: This activity was started on a Wednesday therefore Day 1 is Thursday, Day 2 is Friday and Day 5 is Monday. On day 5 students will collect their samples and analyze them. Students should see a distinct difference in the samples from indoors and outdoors. If a sample was collected outside, rain may have washed debris in or out of it; wind may have deposited pollen, flowers, or

25 leaves from nearby foliage; or rain or snow may have filled the sample container. If a sample was collected indoors in a high-traffic area, it will contain more material than a sample collected in a low-traffic area because of the dust and dirt that people create. Students should also identify factors in the immediate environment of their test site that affected their samples, such as dirt from exhaust in a sample collected in a parking lot or dust in a sample collected near an air vent. The above activity will show students one testing method to assess school health to prepare them for the final project.

Day 4: Whats my Risk?

Goals: Students gain a general understanding of the meaning of exposure. Students begin to generate ideas about their projects. Essential Questions: What are ways your cells are put at risk? Objectives: Create a list of areas that we can test in the school

Sequence
Activity: Whats the Hazard? Mini-lecture: What are we exposed to? Lemons and onions discussion. Brainstorm: Students break into groups to discuss what the school is already doing in terms of health. Students discuss ideas for where they can improve the school. Generate a list of questions for the school nurse to answer tomorrow. Homework: Blog

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ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
NAME:

Whats the Hazard?

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Challenge: With a partner create a criteria for what is a hazard? in the space below.

Fill in the chart below with items that would belong in these categories: Hazardous Non-Hazardous Undecided

Teachers Notes: Mini Lecture: What are we exposed to? The teacher will smash lemons and onions in front of the class to help students observe & experience what happens when they are exposed to the odors. Students observe that they do not experience any health effects from the lemons. They observe that their eyes water and their noses run from the onions. Discussion Questions: People Questions Who is exposed? Hazard Questions

Whats the hazard? How are they exposed? Where does it come from? How much are they exposed? How does it get into a persons body? Why are some people bothered more What does it do to people? than others?

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Activity & Discussion: - Have students describe the effects that the lemons have on them physically. (No effect. The lemon smells good.) Tell students that some things in the air bother most people, whether they have allergies or not. - Peel and cut several of the onions into chunks or slices. - Smash up the onion pieces on sheets of newspaper, using a block of wood, or other smashing too. - Have students describe the effect that the onion has on them physically (tearing, sniffling, etc.) - Explain that even though they are not allergic to onions, the odor from onions is so strong that it causes a reaction in nearly all people. Investigation & class discussion Why do you think there is a health problem? (Students had watery eyes and runny noses.) A. Investigate the hazard. What is the hazard? (the odor) Where does it come from? (onions, when they are smashed, but not when they are whole) How does it get into a persons body? (inhaled. Point out that people eat raw and cooked onions without ill effect. The odor also comes into contact with the eyes. What does it do to people? (causes watery eyes, runny noses, etc.) B. Investigate people who are exposed to the hazard. Who is exposed? (Everyone.) How are they exposed? (The odor travels through the air.) How much are they exposed? (Those closer to the source are more exposed. Those further from the sources have less exposure. Other factors that influence the amount of exposure include the number of onions that were smashed and how long time were smashed.) Why are some people bothered more than others? (Some students may have a cold or other mild illness that makes them have more health effects. Other students may not be bothered by onions at all. Ask students if everyone reacted in the same way to the onion odors.)

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Day 5: Where is the unhealthiest place in school?

Goals: Students show understanding of the scientific method Essential Questions: How is cell health comprised by location? Objectives: Students create a hypothesis and design an experiment to test this.

Sequence
Guest Speaker: School Nurse Lab: Where is the unhealthiest place in school? Homework: Blog

30 WORKSHEET NAME:
FOR LAB:

Where is the unhealthiest place in school?

Challenge: Prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have found the unhealthiest location in school. Materials: - Microscopes - Petri dishes - Cotton swabs lens - slides - test tubes - hand

Procedure: With a partner create a hypothesis and design an experiment to test for unhealthy aspects of your location. For example, you may decide to swab the cafeteria for bacteria or test for air quality in the gym. Bonus: This could turn into your final project. Materials/Tools Used Experimental Design

1. Conclusion: a. Restate your hypothesis b. Describe the experiment and testing methods

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Choose your own Adventure!

Create an informative YouTube video that inspires other students to make healthy, sustainable choices for your cells. Create a model of a cell by painting, drawing, sculpting using whatever materials you think accurately depict the parts of a cell Interview an environmental health specialist and ask them why they decided to pursue that career. Teach your mom, dad, grandmother, sister or someone you just met how you catch the common cold Create a Most Wanted Poster of a bacterial pathogen of your choosing Write an article/ad for the local newspaper or school paper that will invite community members to the symposium. Create a story about the common cold, song, rap whatever you choose. Figure out a way to implement a school wide compost project and explain to them how the microbes break down food through a cartoon story. Create your own challenge around cell health

Create a fictional story of a school where students are healthy and happy and how cells can help accomplish this.

Interview with an oncologist or someone who has or had cancer.

Whats the deal with organics and GMOs? Explain these terms to the class in a format of your choosing.

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Assessment Rubric: Based on conceptual understanding

Exemplary Performance:
Class Participation: Regularly raises points in class and/or blog. Demonstrates strong effort towards understanding concepts. Shows understanding of the scientific method. Completes and submits on time. Submits blog entries regularly. Reflects on class content and what he/she understands. Provides feedback for what works and what does not. Defines a problem to be investigated. Formulates hypothesis to be tested, designs a procedure to conduct observations and/or measurements. Presents findings and suggests areas for improvement. Clearly explains reasoning behind answers. Demonstrates understanding of class content.

Comments

Labs/ In Class Assignments

Homework:

Final Project:

Take Home Cumulative Test:

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Name: _____________________

Choose 6 out of 8 short answer plus two challenge board activities. Short Answer: 1. What does it mean to be healthy? Justify your reasoning. 2. Can being indoors make you sick? Give 3 examples and explain how your cells are impacted. 3. Explain stem cells and their benefits. Give an example. 4. What are cancer cells? How are they different from healthy cells? 5. What are 2 ways you can protect your cells? 6. Draw a model of the common cold viral cell and a plant cell. Explain the similarities and differences between them. 7. What is the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection? Give an example of each. 8. Explain how cells are affected by what you eat. (ex. Junk food vs. health food)

34 Challenge Board 9. Two challenge board activities of your choosing