Role play! In groups of 4-6, choose one of the following topics to role play. You will record this and present it to your peers (or present it live…your choice). Feel free to use the room as your “body” and use color cut-outs as any small molecules needed (e.g. antibodies, antigens, etc).

Scene 1:  “The Emergency Repair Team” – The Blood Clotting Cascade (👭 4-6)

A small cut opens in the skin, and pathogens are trying to enter. Inside the bloodstream, an emergency response team assembles to repair the breach and prevent infection. Show how the body seals the wound and prevents pathogens from entering.

• Key roles: The Pathogen, The Injured Skin Cell, The Platelet, The Clotting Factor(s), Thrombin, Fibrin (and Fibrinogen)
• Go here if you need help (guiding questions)

Scene 2: “The Body’s Special Forces” – Adaptive Immunity 

(👭 4-6)

A pathogen has invaded! The innate immune system has slowed it down, but now the adaptive immune system must eliminate it. Show how the body recognizes the pathogen, produces antibodies, and remembers the infection.

• Key roles: The Pathogen, The Macrophage, The Helper T Cell, The B Cell, The Plasma Cell, The Memory Cell 
• Go here if you need help (guiding questions)

Scene 3: “Training Day for the Immune System” – Vaccination Within the Body (👭 5-6)

A vaccine has just been injected into the body. The immune system must recognize the harmless antigens, mount a controlled immune response, and create memory cells for future protection. Show what happens inside the body after vaccination — from injection to the development of immunity.

• Key roles: The Vaccine, The Macrophage / Dendritic Cell, The Helper T Cell, The B Cell, The Plasma Cell, The Memory Cell 
• Go here if you need help (guiding questions) 

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Other Activities: 

ⓦ: “Inquiry 5″: Q&A on the Body’s Defenses (💁/👭 max 2)

Create a list of 5 inquiry questions related to the body’s primary, secondary, and tertiary lines of defense. Remember that good inquiry questions are conceptual / open-ended, for example:

Such as: “Which line of defense might have evolved first, and why?; 

NOT: “What is the function of platelets in blood clotting?“

If working solo, write out answers to your own questions; if working in pairs, record yourselves asking each other your 5 questions.

*Try to write questions to cover as many topics from C3.2 as possible!

Ⓛ: Tomato Skins as Immune Defense (💁 / 👭 max 2)

The skin of a tomato shares many of the same functions as the skin of a human. With this in mind, we can model an injury to human skin by cutting a tomato, and following the resulting infection that takes place. Follow the instructions on this lab, then answer the questions at the end.  

Ⓛ (Data analysis): Play an Epidemiologist  (💁)

Use this spreadsheet of raw data reporting the prevalence of various diseases in recent history. Make 2-3 graphs of your choosing – the graphs should clearly evaluate some factor related to epidemiology (e.g. change in measles cases over time). Create at least 2 follow-up inquiry questions for each graph, making suggestions for further research.

ⓟ/ⓦ (+NOS): This Podcast Will Kill You – Smallpox

(💁/ 👫 max: 3)

Smallpox is awful. Thankfully, all of us today can instead say, “smallpox was awful.” Listen to the first 3 minutes of this podcast (or more, if you like!), and then discuss the ethical implications of Jenner’s first inoculation test on a child for smallpox. What is unethical? What kind of ethical exceptions should we make for the exceptionally bad diseases of the world?  

ⓟ/ⓦ (+NOS): Be Grateful You Live Now (antigens edition) 

(💁/ 👬 max: 3) 

In the 1660s, a physician named Richard Lower attempted one of the first blood transfusions: from a sheep to a human. Surprisingly, nothing happened. This result unfortunately spawned a generation of curious scientists throughout Europe – they began transfusing just about anything that sounded interesting in humans. This included milk, wine, beer, mercury, and just about every blood from every animal you can think of. A lot of people died, and transfusions became a taboo medical practice for the next 150 years. Read this excerpt from Bill Bryson’s The Body, then Podcast a response to this chapter in history, explaining: 1) What happens to red blood cells when a different blood type is transfused; 2) Why transfusing foreign substances other than blood is a bad idea; and 3) How bad procedures can create taboos that stall scientific progress. 

ⓟ/ⓦ: Podcast: Your Body at War – Immune System vs. Pathogens (👫 max 3)

When you get sick and are resting at home with a cough and fever, there is an epic battle taking place inside of you. Watch this video showing the basic details of the immune system (if you want, check out this Kurzgesagt video for more details). Then in a podcast or a brief writeup, explain; 1) How the immune system fights off pathogens, and 2) how adaptive immunity helps to keep you safe in the long run.

Ӕ: The Academy – Acquired Immunity (💁)

Create a Khan-academy style video to explain adaptive immunity, making sure you explain the immune system’s response to an invading pathogen. Go here for inspiration (or merely to learn more about the topic).

ⓟ/ⓦ: When Viruses Go Next Level (👫 max 3)

Why don’t some vaccines work? Why are some viruses – like the flu virus – so difficult for us to cure with a vaccine? Watch this brief video, and in a podcast/brief writeup, explain: 1) How normal immunity works and why some vaccines DO work; and 2) How some viruses have evolved to avoid the use of vaccines and active immunity.

ⓡ: Vaccines – From Smallpox to Covid 

Read this article about the connection between our hunt for a Covid vaccine, and the history of the famous first vaccine that saved endless generations from suffering: smallpox. Then discuss (podcast or writeup) 1) How Jenner’s work led to the dream of the first global effort to eradicate a deadly disease, and 2) the ethical issues behind his work. Should we be revising our ethical standards in light of Covid? Why or why not?   

Other: The Immune System Game (👫 max 3)

This is the immune system game – the object of the game is to eliminate an infectious pathogen from your body (represented by a lunch bag). It still needs a little setup, but once that’s done, you can use it to practice and/or teach all about ins and outs of the immune system.

Activities for Blood Clotting:

Ӕ: The Academy: Blood Clotting (💁)

Create a Khan Academy-style video to explain the blood clotting cascade, making sure that you include all key processes and terms from C3.2. Also Include an explanation of how this same cascade can be responsible for damage in the event of coronary thrombosis and heart attacks.  

ⓟ: Hemophilia – A Hemorrhagic Disposition [This Podcast Will Kill You]  – (💁 / 👭 max 2)

Bumps and bruises. Cuts and scrapes. Gashes and gouges. Injuries small and large are familiar to all of us, but what happens when part of our body’s innate healing ability is disrupted? What happens, for instance, when the blood just won’t stop flowing? Listen to this podcast (especially from 14:00 – 22:00 min) and discuss: 1) How does the blood clotting cascade work (give details!);  2) What is hemophilia, and how does it disrupt this process?;  and 3) What the future of medicine might help hemophiliacs.  

Activities for HIV/AIDS:

ⓦ (Film Review): HIV and AIDS (💁)

Watch either the film “The Dallas Buyers Club” (2013) or “Philadelphia” (1993) – both award winning films about the AIDS epidemic. In a podcast or written review, explain 1) what HIV is and what STIs are, 2) How HIV affects the immune system, and 3) what you think about the stigma that surrounded AIDS when it was at its peak. How do you feel now knowing that a possible end of AIDS is in sight?

ⓟ/ⓦ: The End to AIDS in Sight 👫 (max 3)

For those who lived through the AIDS epidemic, it is one of the miracles of modern medicine that scientists are talking about a potential end to AIDS. Read this article, and with your fellow podcasters, explain 1) what HIV is and what STIs are, 2) How HIV affects the immune system, and 3) How you feel knowing that a possible end of AIDS is in sight? 

Activities for Antibiotics: 

Ⓛ: How Good are Those Antibacterial Products? (👫 max 2)

Design an investigation to compare the efficacy of various antibacterial products. The products can either be natural OR human-made products (e.g. natural: ginger, lemon, tea tree oil, etc.; human-made: soaps, hand wipes, alcohol gels, etc). Use agar plates to grow bacteria, using your chosen product to see how effectively it inhibits growth.

ⓟ/ⓦ: The Antibiotic Apocalypse (👫 max 2)

The discovery of antibiotics saved hundreds of millions of lives in the 20th century. Unfortunately, their widespread use is also the root of their demise – more and more bacteria are evolving into “superbugs” that are resistant to all of our antibiotic treatments. It will only get worse with time. Watch this Kurzgesagt video on antibiotics, then explain how evolution actually works against us in the case of antibiotics.