California Career and Technical Education Standards

• HSMT.A.A1.1 Understand the role of the biotechnology industry and its impact on society.
• HSMT.A.A1.4 Understand the relationship between biochemistry and biotechnology product devel...
• HSMT.FS.5.3 Use critical thinking skills to make informed decisions and solve problems.
• HSMT.FS.9.3 Understand how to organize and structure work individually and in teams for effe...

California Academic Content Standards (Reinforced)

• ELA.9-10.LS.C.1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments...
• ELA.9-10.R.CAGT.2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis...3
• ELA.9-10.R.CAGT.2.6 Demonstrate use of sophisticated learning tools by following technical direction...2
• ELA.9-10.W.2.3b Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports ...
• ELA.9-10.W.2.3d Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports ...
• M.6.SDAP.2.5 Identify claims based on statistical data and, in simple cases, evaluate the val...11
• M.7.SDAP.1.1 Know various forms of display for data sets, including a stem and leaf plot or b...21
• M.7.SDAP.1.3 Understand the meaning of, and be able to compute, the minimum, the lower quarti...2

• Let's Figaro it out - Hooks / Set

  Prior to class, students have written down in a chart in their legal scientific notebooks what they know they are allergic to – if anything.  As students enter the room, they read the message board instructing students to take out their notebook and black pen, and open the notebook to the antibody chart.  When class starts, I ask students questions.  They move to one of the four sides of the class depending on the answer.  Students that answer “yes” go to the left side of the room.  Students answering “no” move to the right side of the room.  Students that “don’t know” are in the front.  Students that are between yes/no are in the back.  I ask the following questions:

  1. Who has sinus allergies or knows someone that has sinus allergies? Who has food allergies or knows someone with food allergies?  Who has medication allergies or knows someone with medication allergies? 

  2. From the ‘yes’ side of the room, ask students to share one example of something that causes allergies.  Responses should vary between foods like grains, pollens, dust, medicines like penicillin, etc.

  3. Who has ever been tested for allergies?

  4. From the ‘yes’ side of the room, ask students to share how they were tested.

  NOTE: Prior to starting questions, play Tiny Dancer by Elton John.  Questions must be answered and this section completed by the end of Tiny Dancer by Elton John.  It’s ok to go over a minute or two, but use the song as a time keeper.  Teacher may or may not want to ask to see which students made the connection of the analogy between the song and the topic at the conclusion.

  • Tiny Dancer Song by Elton John [ Watch Video ] [ Download Original Video ]
• Lecture and Brain Storm - Lecture

  Prior to class, students have already learned about proteins and the basic structure of antibodies.

  Start the PowerPoint presentation with the class.  I use a Smart Board to present so that I may add notes directly to the presentation.  I will already have the introductory slide on the Smart Board.

  Go over the first two slides as review with the class.  Each student should physically act and assume the “Y” position, indicating that antibodies bind at their hands (students wiggle fingers) to antigens.

  Slide 4 is an example of activities Figaro does every day.  Indicate that in the medical field, doctors and nurses would need to get a background of their patient, also known as a  patient history, before testing and diagnosing. 

  Ask for a student volunteer to write on the Smart Board for slide 5.  Have students hypothesize what Figaro can be allergic to based off his activities and what he comes in contact with on a daily basis.  Remind students of their own personal experiences with allergies as stated during the anticipatory set.

  For slide 6, ask for a new student volunteer to write on the Smart Board and have students come up with ideas on ways to test for possible antigens that the patient may be allergic to.   Students will typically base their ideas on personal experiences of skin tests, etc.  Remind students that the patient is a cat and ask if they liked going through the skin tests.  This is a great way to draw on personal experiences.  Challenge students to use their biotechnology skills to design an experiment that doesn’t require skin tests.  The teacher may have to break down the questioning.  For example, ask students if they have learned a media that molecules diffuse through and will also get trapped.  Students should then come up with agar, agarose, etc.  Keep guiding them down a path that the teacher is comfortable with.

  • Antibody Simulation [ Download ] The PowerPoint used for the lecture and lab portion.
• Demonstrate the lab - Demo / Modeling

  Slides 7 through 18 on the Antibody Simulation PowerPoint are the actual steps of the lab.  Do short demonstrations of the lab while moving through the slides.  Leave the PowerPoint on slide 18 as a visual reference and allow students to start work in pairs.  This portion is based off Ellyn Daugherty's lab.

  NOTE: Prior to the start of the lesson, Figaro's antibodies and the potential allergen solutions need to be prepared.  Follow the teacher's guide to make all the solutions needed for this lab.

  • Antibody Simulation Lab [ Download ]
  • Teacher's Guide [ Download ]
• Student Work Time - Lab / Shop

  In pairs, have students decide what four antigens they believe Figaro is allergic to based on teacher description of the cat's activities during the day.  NOTE: Each group will have slightly different antigens.

  Students flow-chart their steps in legal scientific notebooks.  Students will then get three agar plates (something students have previously made using sterile technique) and perform the lab.  Each agar plate represents one trial.  Have students complete one plate while the teacher walks around the classroom and checks for understanding.

  Students stop after they have added Figaro’s antibodies and the potential antigens.  The plates must sit overnight.

  Teacher meets with groups on an individual basis.  Once the group has successfully answered conceptual and lab related questions, students may perform trials 2 and 3 on the remaining two agar plates.
• Analysis

  Students perform trials 2 and 3 on the remaining two agar plates after meeting with the teacher.  Plates sit overnight allowing for time for molecules to diffuse through the agar.

  Students analyze plates 24 hours later.  Slides 19 through 24 explain how students convert results into numeric data, collect data in tables, and take averages.

  Teacher enphasises that when students have an average of zero indicates that all three trials received a zero.  Teacher may have to help students connect that a zero signifies the patient is not allergic to the antigen.

  Have the class share individual averages on a class average table.  Have the class average table up on the Smart Board and students type in their results.  Again, emphasize that a class average of zero is 12-16 other groups’ averages, signifying that the zero result occurred 36-48 other times.  The more trials, the more accurate the data.  This is an excellent place where teachers can emphasize consistent data in science and the significance of consistent data.