ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

After researching the instructional need and rationale for this unit of instruction, I identified some distinct target areas “in what needs to be” in my science classroom. According to the ACT scores of juniors and seniors this past year, students are scoring lower in “science reasoning” skills than in other academic areas. In reviewing 2004 CTBS tests I also noticed many students with below proficiency ratings in the area of “scientific inquiry,” which is Standard #2 in the North Dakota Standards and Benchmarks for Science.

The next part of my instructional need research was to identify how to improve “science reasoning” and “scientific inquiry” in my lessons. In order to accomplish my goal of improving these areas, I focused on five benchmarks that I would incorporate into this instructional unit.

The first area is Benchmark 9-10.1.1, Understand the interaction of components within a system. I need to challenge students to identify all the significant details of the interaction of components within a system and between systems.

The second area is Benchmark 9-10.1.3., Understand the relationship between form and function. Students will understand the size of the systems within an organism and how this form is related to the proper functioning of the organism as a whole.

The third area is Benchmark 9-10.1.6., Explain how models can be used to illustrate scientific areas. Students will use and make models that will illustrate how the systems work and where they are found.

The fourth area is Benchmark 9-10.2.7, Analyze data found in tables, charts, and graphs to formulate conclusions. This is one of the best ways in improve one of my focus areas, science reasoning. My goal is that by analyzing data, students should be able to formulate insightful conclusions.

The fifth area is Benchmark 9-10.6.1., Use appropriate technologies and techniques to solve a problem. Throughout this lesson students will be required to use technology in researching information to solve a problem.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding:
Students will understand the functions of blood, parts of the heart, and the circulation path of blood through the body. They will know how to take their pulse, blood pressure, and respiration, and know how they are interrelated. Students will understand heart disease and the various technologies used to identify and treat them.
Goal(s): Students will understand the functions and components of blood. Students will know the parts of the heart and how it functions. Students will understand the path of blood though the body. Students will differentiate between blood pressure, pulse, and respiration. Students will learn the importance of technology in diagnosing and treating heart disease.

Questions Answered

Essential questions:
1. What are the functions and components of blood?
2. What are the parts of the heart?
3. How does the heart beat, and how is this related to blood pressure and pulse.
4. How is the blood circulated throughout the body?
5. What is the path of blood through the body?
6. What are some different heart diseases?
7. What technologies are used to diagnose and treat heart disease?
Objectives: Students will be able to list the functions and components of blood with a 90% efficiency. Students will design a model of the heart and its parts with 100% accuracy. After an investigation on blood pressure, pulse, and respiration, students will be able to demonstrate the technique on how to perform each with 100% efficiency. After practice in class, students will sing the St. Joseph’s aspirin circulation song with 100% accuracy. After reseach, students will write and orally present a report on an assigned technology used to diagnose or treat some form of heart disease. This will be evaluated using a rubric. Within a group, students will write a creative story following red blood cells through the circulatory system. It will include major parts of the the system as characters. A rubric will be used for assessment.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Students will be given a test to measure comprehension of the material. The test will consist of a mathcing section of terminology, a short answer section requiring recall of certain concepts, an essay section demonstrating writing skills and their knowledge of circulation, and a model of the heart that they will have to label. In addition to this test, worksheets will be used to reinforce the material and apply additional learning methods.

What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Discussion questions will be provided at the beginning and the end of each lesson to reinforce information and stimulate critical thinking. The creative story activity that is assigned will provoke critical thinking and provide evidence of understanding. At the end of our experiment with blood pressure, pulse, and respiration, questions to be assigned will challenge the students to use science reasoning skills.

What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
  Two projects that will provide authentic, real world applications are the creative story lesson and the research project. The research project requires the students to collect information about technology used to diagnose and treat heart disease. This is a real world assignment that will show a bigger picture of how technolgy is used in the medical field.

What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
  Evidence of understanding that will be collected are their writing sample rough drafts. A rubric will be used to assess their creative writing story and research project.

Instructional Strategies

All three strategies will be used in this unit to promote higher-order thinking in regard to the student learning objectives.

Inquiry-based learning will be used to answer the learning objective: “how does the heart beat and how is this related to blood pressure and pulse.” By introducing the hands-on experiment of taking their pulse, students will be faced with the question of how or what stimulates the heart to beat. They will be required to think about possible hypotheses that could be used to answer this question. Taking their blood pressure will lead to questions about what causes the pressure and how does that affect their health. The final part of the experiment will force the students to study the relationship between the two procedures. This information will be recorded and shared with others via spreadsheets and graphs.

Problem-based learning will be used to answer the learning objective: “what is the path of blood through the body.” Students will be confronted with the task of writing a creative story following red blood cells through the circulatory system. They have the freedom to use a science fiction approach to their writing but at the same time incorporate the major parts as characters. Students will not be compelled to find the “correct” answer, but determine the best possible solution to the story.

Project-based learning will be used to answer the learning objective: “what technologies are used to diagnose and treat various types of heart disease.” The research and assembly of this project will be authentic, mirroring the real world. This project will reflect a research work environment that they may encounter in a science occupation, as well as another profession.