Lesson Title: Fighting Disease

Teacher Name: Nirasha Premaratne

Subject: General Science Grade Level: 8 (Form 2)
(The Living Environment)
Time Required (days; time/day): 70 minutes
Topic: Microbes and diseases ( KS3 Science Unit 8C)
NYS – The Living Environment Core Curriculum –
Key Idea 5: Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life.

Essential Question: How does our body fight against diseases?

Pre-requisites (Prior Knowledge):
Students know that micro-organisms are living organisms.
Students have explored the characteristics of micro-organisms and they know micro-organisms feed,
grow and reproduce like other organisms
Students can name some diseases caused by micro-organisms
STAGE 1 - DESIRED RESULTS
A. Content Area Standard(s): (include complete standard, not just standard #)

Standard 1: Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as
appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.
Standard 2: Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate
technologies.
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining
to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of
Ideas in science.

B. Intended Learning Outcome Define what students will know and be able to do and at what level of
mastery they should be able to do it. NOTE: Add/subtract rows from below each column heading,
Student will know… Student will be able to…
that the body has natural barriers to infection; that to organise and link information correctly and
the production of antibodies and specialised cells creatively
in the blood are part of the defense systems of the to organise facts/ideas/information in an
body appropriate sequence
to describe some of the systems in the human
body for fighting infecting micro-organisms
PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 5.2 All students will identify some natural barrier
defences that a body has against infection, and,
5.2b Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other parasites with help, present this knowledge using creativity
may infect plants and animals and interfere with and a variety of techniques.
normal life functions. Most students will describe, present this
knowledge in an imaginative manner, and also
5.2c The immune system protects against
identify how cells which help a body protect itself
antigens associated with pathogenic organisms or
against disease have adapted to carry out this
foreign substances
role.
Some student will explain in detail how the body
defends itself against disease.
STAGE 2 - ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Students will demonstrate their learning/understanding in the following way(s):
A. Teacher-Created Assessments:
Pre-test: Post-test:
Oral questions to the students Worksheet and student project work
© 2009, Gradel & Jabot (adapted from Jabot, Maheady, Rey, 2005; adapted from Wiggins & McTighe) 1
B. Performance Assessments:
The following rubric would be used for each student:
Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Score
Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student
got correct did not get followed partially did not complet complete complete
sequence correct instruction follow follow ed a d ½ of a d less
sequence s 1 – 5 in instruction instruction creative creative than ¼
the allotted s 1 – 5 in s 1 – 5 in project project of a
time the allotted the allotted creative
time time project
1 0 2 1 0 3 2 1 6
Score 6 – Excellent Work
5 – Very Good
4 – Good
3 – Getting there
2 – Must work hard to work on time
1 – Must prepare more for lesson
C. Other Assessments (e.g., Peer, Self):
Students will carry out a peer evaluation of their projects on a latter date based on a rubric developed
by the class
D. Assessment Adaptations:
The teacher should check understanding of students by asking them to show or tell how the instructions
are to be followed and what they have to do.

STAGE 3 - LEARNING PLAN

A. Learning Activities
1. Instructional Strategies/Learning Activities:
(e.g., demonstration, discussion, small groups, role play, etc.)

Demonstrations – Teacher demonstrates the instructions and how to open the relevant files on the
computer, students demonstrate their final work on the multimedia projector.
Discussion – Class discussions on how white blood cells attack foreign bodies using key words:
pathogens, antigens, antibodies, engulf, etc.
Individual or pair activities – students will work alone or in pairs depending on their ability level on the
activities.
2. Introducing the Lesson: (capturing students’ attention, activating students’ prior knowledge).

Starter:
WILF Statement : Today, what I am looking for is for you to be able to explain, in a creative way, how
our body fights disease, so Junior 4 and Form 1 students will understand how we get sick and how our
body tries to fight off the disease.

Oral Questions to activate students’ prior knowledge:

1. What are the 3 groups of micro-organisms?
2. What is a pathogen?
3. Name 5 diseases caused by pathogens.
Activity 1 – (see below)

© 2009, Gradel & Jabot (adapted from Jabot, Maheady, Rey, 2005; adapted from Wiggins & McTighe) 2
3. Instructional Sequence:
(representing the content: teaching/learning activities, connecting to students’ prior knowledge, etc.)
Complete the following two columns, showing teacher activity in correspondence with student activity.
Add/subtract rows as needed.
Teacher activity (The teacher is doing….) Student activity (The student is doing…)
ACTIVITY 1
Ask students to open “fighting disease Open and read “fighting disease instructions” word
instructions” word file and tell them they have 2 file.
minutes read through the file Close file.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BzjEWZLh96
MvNDliZDkyOGUtY2I0MC00MTVjLWJkZjQtNWJk
OWNjMjExMzI5&hl=en

Show 8C.g.1 “Natural defences” sheet on Arrange sequence of pictures displayed on board.
projector to class and explain that they are getting
one minute to sequence the pictures.
Get the correct response from the volunteers to Give the correct sequence out aloud to class
repeat it aloud to class.

ACTIVITY 2
Ask students to read the instructions sheet and Read the instruction sheet steps 1 – 5.
carry out the steps 1 – 5.
Tell them to work on answering the questions in Type in the web addresses on the explorer
the “Fighting Disease Worksheet” word file after browser address bar and visit the given sites
visiting the given web sites. Check student activity
and help struggling students
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BzjEWZLh96
MvYjZhNzlhMWUtZmJkYy00YTRiLTllZjYtMmJiM
GE1Y2M1Yjc3&hl=en
Tell them to fill in the file and save it to specific Read the information on the web pages and
folder. complete the worksheet given in the word file.
Check student activity and help struggling Save file to specified folder
students

ACTIVITY 3
Ask students to read the instructions sheet and Read the instruction sheet steps 6 – 7.
carry out the steps 6 – 7. Open files of video clips and “fighting disease” file
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BzjEWZLh96
MvNDliZDkyOGUtY2I0MC00MTVjLWJkZjQtNWJk
OWNjMjExMzI5&hl=en
Explain that they may choose to do only one
presentation out of the four given on the sheet.
Answer student questions and check on student Make a small presentation of how our body fights
activity and help struggling students disease
Check student activity and help struggling Save project on specified folder
students
Point out that step 8 on instruction sheet as the
expected homework

© 2009, Gradel & Jabot (adapted from Jabot, Maheady, Rey, 2005; adapted from Wiggins & McTighe) 3
B. Adaptations to the Instructional Sequence to Differentiate:

Inclusion of 4 choices on the project work to accommodate the ICT skill level of all students in class.
More time given out of class to complete Activity 3.
More time spent with struggling students in class.

Each student gets to make their own presentation. They could choose from making a Science movie, a
power-point presentation or a flow chart using the information obtained from various sources on the net.
Alternatively, they could use their text book and notebook to get the information. Those who were not
able to complete their work in the allotted time could save it for later completion or take the project
home.

Use of larger font size in the documents.

C. Discussion and Assessment of Learning: (Pointing out to students how what they are learning is
related to the driving question; assessing students’ learning as a result of the lesson)

The students should be reminded that the picture sequence in Activity 1 shows how white blood cells
fight against disease. They should also be encouraged to use the new key words: “antigen”, “antibody”,
“engulf” in their work or discussions.
The more key words students use to describe their work during discussions with them will indicate a
high level of learning.
The completed worksheet from Activity 2 will show how much information the students processed and
how they related it to the topic discussed.
Activity 3 will help students to establish the knowledge learnt in the first 2 activities. Each student’s
success in learning will be measured with a rubric. Those who did not reach the accepted learning
standard could repeat the first 2 activities and be guided more with simple questioning during Activity 3.
The homework to write a short description on how white blood cells fight against disease will help
students to focus on the topic.

D. Closure:
1. Overall Closure Plans:

Show some presentations that are completed within the allotted time to class using multimedia
projector.
Remind students of the WILF statement for the lesson.
Homework:
Complete presentation and submit before next lesson. (For those who didn’t complete work in class)
Write a short description of how white blood cells fight against disease. (For all students)

2. Extensions for Early Finishers:

Ask students to research other methods used by the body to provide defence against disease.
For example: Cells in the windpipe produce mucous and ciliated cells trap microbes which are then
swept towards the stomach; Acid in the stomach kills microbes; Chemicals in tears kill bacteria

3. Alternate strategies for struggling students or those who learn differently:

The students who are struggling or over-whelmed with ICT session can find the same information on
their text book to answer the worksheet which can be printed out for them.
They can still take part in the same activities on paper – printed picture sequence/ printed worksheet
and make concept map (Step 6 – D) in notebook

© 2009, Gradel & Jabot (adapted from Jabot, Maheady, Rey, 2005; adapted from Wiggins & McTighe) 4
E. Procedures: (both already established procedures to be used, and procedures to be taught for this
lesson)
Students report to ICT laboratory
Students log on to their accounts
Teacher demonstrates and gives instructions
Students follow instructions by following the Activities
Students complete Activities 1 and 2 in class
Students work on Activity 3
Teacher/peers show struggling students how to follow the instructions
Teacher assesses the students
Students note the homework and the topic for next class

LESSON DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

A. Technology Tools and Materials: (classroom set-up, preparations, resources, etc.)
ICT laboratory with computers for entire class and teacher – The lesson is ideally suited to be
conducted in the ICT laboratory, where every student will have access to one computer each. All
computer users should be facing the front of the classroom, to observe demonstrations easily. Each
student computer should be easily accessible to the teacher, too.
Multimedia projector linked to teacher’s computer – The multimedia projector is required to demonstrate
the instructions and specific information at the start of the lesson and also to show the student
presentations to the rest of the class at the end of the lesson.
Video camera and Firewire or IEEE 1394 cable or memory card reader – The video clips were filmed in
advance. I used the students as characters. I used my personal video camera, although the school also
has one.
Windows XP and Movie maker 2.1 installed in all computers
Framework Science 8C Scheme of Work and Teacher’s Guide CD
Internet access – All computers should be on the network for internet and intranet access. All websites
visited by the students were checked prior to the lesson to ascertain their suitability to the lesson, age
limit and level of understanding of students.
Photocopies of the instruction sheet were also made in advance. The information file “Fighting
Diseases” was put in the school network, so all students could access it. Alternatively, it could be saved
separately onto each computer.
Instruct the students to turn up at the computer laboratory on the day of the lesson with relevant
equipment such as recordable or re-writable disks (obtainable from the school stores), or their personal
USB drives IF they have one, Framework 8 Science text book and note book.

B. Parent/Community Resources:
The school computer laboratory should be booked early to avoid last minute disappointments.
Confirm with systems administrator that all computers have the requirements for using Windows Movie
Maker.

C. Contact Information:

A student work sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfpsW8Spr1k

My email: prem5106@fredonia.edu

© 2009, Gradel & Jabot (adapted from Jabot, Maheady, Rey, 2005; adapted from Wiggins & McTighe) 5