Multiple health topics available as text or in audio format. Written for teens to understand.
Students are introduced to the unit challenge discovering a new way to assess a person's risk of breast cancer. Solving this challenge requires knowledge of refraction and the properties of light. After being introduced to the challenge question, students generate ideas related to solving the challenge, and then read a short online article on optical biosensors that guides their research towards solving the problem.
Through four lessons and three hands-on activities, students learn the concepts of refraction and interference in order to solve an engineering challenge: "In 2013, actress Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy, not because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but merely to lower her cancer risk. But what if she never inherited the gene(s) that are linked to breast cancer and endured surgery unnecessarily? Can we create a new method of assessing people's genetic risks of breast cancer that is both efficient and cost-effective?" While pursuing a solution to this challenge, students learn about some high-tech materials and delve into the properties of light, including the equations of refraction (index of refraction, Snell's law). Students ultimately propose a method to detect cancer-causing genes by applying the refraction of light in a porous film in the form of an optical biosensor. Investigating this challenge question through this unit is designed for an honors or AP level physics class, although it could be modified for conceptual physics.
Students learn about glaucoma its causes, how it affects individuals and how biomedical engineers can identify factors that trigger or cause this eye disease, specifically the increase of pressure in the eye. Students also learn how RFID technologies transfer energy through waves and how engineers apply their scientific understanding of waves, energy and sensors to develop devices that measure the pressure in the eyes of people with glaucoma. Students conclude by sketching their own designs for a pressure-measuring eye device, preparing them to conduct the associated activity in which they revise, prototype and evaluate their device designs made tangible with a 3D printer.
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This website contains Canadian information and resources on Adverse Childhood Experiences
It is critically important to acknowledge, however, that interpersonal violence is not the only source of trauma. Trauma can be experienced as a result of structural violence, or experiences that happen to children because of who they are, how they live, and lack of opportunities.
This resource from the DLC explores the truth about mental health, the symptoms of depression and anxiety, what we can do for students, where you can go to get help, suggest resources, and mindfulness exercises.
Students learn how the endocrine system works and compare it to the mail delivery system. Students discuss the importance of communication in human body systems and relate that to engineering and astronauts.
This unit on nanoparticles engages students with a hypothetical Grand Challenge Question that asks about the skin cancer risk for someone living in Australia, given the local UV index and the condition of the region's ozone layer. The question asks how nanoparticles might be used to help detect, treat and protect people from skin cancer. Through three lessons, students learn about the science of electromagnetic radiation and energy waves, human skin and its response to ultraviolet radiation, and the state of medical nanotechnology related to skin cancer. Through three hands-on activities, students perform flame tests to become familiar with the transfer of energy in quantum form, design and conduct their own quality-control experiments to test sun protection factors (SPFs), and write nanotechnology grant proposals.
Students are presented with a biomedical engineering challenge: Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death among women and the American Cancer Society says mammography is the best early-detection tool available. Despite this, many women choose not to have them; of all American women at or over age 40, only 54.9% have had a mammogram within the past year. One reason women skip annual mammograms is pain, with 90% reporting discomfort. Is there a way to detect the presence of tumors that is not as painful as mammography but more reliable and quantifiable than breast self-exams or clinical breast exams? This three lesson/three activity unit is designed for first-year accelerated or AP physics classes. It provide hands-on activities to teach the concepts of stress, strain and Hooke's law, which students apply to solve the challenge problem.
Students learn how viruses invade host cells and hijack the hosts' cell-reproduction mechanisms in order to make new viruses, which can in turn attack additional host cells. Students also learn how the immune system responds to a viral invasion, eventually defeating the viruses -- if all goes well. Finally, they consider the special case of HIV, in which the virus' host cell is a key component of the immune system itself, severely crippling it and ultimately leading to AIDS. The associated activity, Tracking a Virus, sets the stage for this lesson with a dramatic simulation that allows students to see for themselves how quickly a virus can spread through a population, and then challenges students to determine who the initial bearers of the virus were.
Take on the role of the Surgeon throughout a hip resurfacing surgery!
In my leadership unit in grade 9 health my students spent time reflecting on how
healthy decisions are important for a healthy future. In an effort to have students
dream positively for their futures, and really focus on the importance of healthy life
choices, I had them create vision boards. Students were encouraged to dream about
their visions for their futures and create a canvas that would display these future
visions. We talked a lot about how leaders spend time planning for the future they
want to have, and create visions and goals for getting to where they want to be in
life.
With this strategy the students draw the meaning of the word in order to make important connections.
In this activity, students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. The compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space.
In this service-learning engineering project, students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design a hearing testing device. More specifically, they design a prototype machine that can be used to test the peripheral vision of partially-blind, pre-verbal children. Students learn about the basics of vision and vision loss. They also learn how a peripheral vision tester for adults works (by testing the static peripheral vision in the four quadrants of the visual field with four controllable lights in specific locations). Then they modify the idea of the adult peripheral vision tester to make it usable for testing young children. The class designs and builds one complete prototype, working in sub-groups of four or five students each to build sub-components of the project design.
What are micronutrients and macronutrients? Today, we're going to talk about the essential nutrients that your body needs to function properly: micronutrients and macronutrients. Have you ever wondered what they are, why they're called that, and why they're important? Well, you're in the right place!
Micronutrients and macronutrients are both essential for good health, but they serve different purposes in the body. Micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, are needed in smaller quantities than macronutrients, which include carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. They're called "micro" and "macro" because of the difference in the amount that you need.
In this video, we'll explain what micronutrients and macronutrients are, and why they're called that. We'll also talk about the difference between micronutrients and macronutrients, and why they're both important for your body. And, we'll give you some tips on how to make sure you're getting enough of both in your diet.
Students are presented with the unit's grand challenge problem: You are the lead engineer for a biomaterials company that has a cardiovascular systems client who wants you to develop a model that can be used to test the properties of heart valves without using real specimens. How might you go about accomplishing this task? What information do you need to create an accurate model? How could your materials be tested? Students brainstorm as a class, then learn some basic information relevant to the problem (by reading the transcript of an interview with a biomedical engineer), and then learn more specific information on how heart tissues work their structure and composition (lecture information presented by the teacher). This prepares them for the associated activity, during which students cement their understanding of the heart and its function by dissecting sheep hearts to explore heart anatomy.
Students are introduced to the concepts of the challenge question. First independently, and then in small groups, they generate ideas for solving the grand challenge introduced in the associated lesson: Your grandmother has a fractured hip and a BMD of -3.3. What medical diagnosis explains her condition? What are some possible causes? What are preventative measures for other family members? Students complete a worksheet that contains the pertinent questions, as well as develop additional questions of their own, all with the focus on determining what additional background knowledge they need to research. Finally, as a class, students compile their ideas, resulting in a visual as a learning supplement.
The Science Centre has just launched a new science information project called Understanding COVID-19. This site provides information about viruses and provides links to more information about immunity and infections.