According to the World Health Organization (WHO), immunizations are one of the public health’s most cost-effective inventions. The United Nations (UN) created several sustainable development goals to ensure a sustainable future for all. One of these goals focuses on good health and well-being at all ages. Vaccinations play a vital role in achieving this goal. In 1803, Edward Jenner coined the term vaccination, from the Latin word “Vacca” which means cow. Vaccines are substances that consist of weakened, dead, or incomplete portions of pathogens or antigens. Vaccines help prevent diseases and are one of the most important achievements of mankind. Research shows that vaccines help prevent a million deaths per year worldwide, increase average life span, and help eradicate infectious diseases such as smallpox. The current unit, targeted to high school students, dives into the history of infectious diseases and vaccinations, different types of immunity and how they are acquired, a brief overview of how vaccinations help produce antibodies that combat disease-causing agents and briefly discuss the vaccination delivery systems that are currently used worldwide. This unit could be taught over a period of 3-4 weeks, the unit introduces the Design Thinking Process where students embrace empathy, work collaboratively, create “human-centric” solutions to problems.

This unit focuses on the blending of vaccine focused content with basic biology content. The blending of content primarily concerns the human immune system. Allowing high school biology students to explore human vaccine technology through fundamental immune system knowledge and providing a tangible and relatable way to engage with these two complex topics to aid student understanding of how a vaccine works on the individual level. Prior to addressing the science behind how a vaccine leverages the immune system some vaccine focused content will provide a brief history of vaccines and explanation of vaccine types. Herd immunity will also be discussed within the unit. Herd immunity refers to the percentage of immune population threshold that is necessary to avoid an epidemic. Herd immunity is about understanding how vaccines work on a population level. It is relevant that students understand that vaccines are not just an individual health issue and are perhaps more importantly a community health issue. These topic areas will also allow the unit to explore the pressing and relevant vaccine related issue of barriers to vaccine adoption and public adoption of vaccine protocols. Finally, the likely future of vaccine technology, DNA vaccines, will be discussed. DNA vaccines offer much promise in eliminating some inherent vaccination issues such as transport, storage, ease of production, and safety.

In this lesson, designed for a heterogeneous group of students that includes English-language learners, students work together to plan a website based on their home knowledge. An introductory lesson outlines the structure and components of simple websites (home page, titles, headings, links). Students take home and complete a bilingual student and family interest survey, then work in groups of four or five to identify common themes among the responses. Each group makes a flow chart to think graphically about the contents of their planned website. Each student keeps a project notebook to record new ideas, summarize group work, and share the project with family members. The teacher can make the planned websites a reality using one of the online website-building platforms in the Resources list.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson introduces students to climate change and the idea that renewable energy sources are a better choice for the planet.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson introduces students to climate change and provides an excellent resource that illustrates how climate change impacts life in New Jersey. The energy independent island Samsø, Denmark is presented through a reading of Energy Island by Alan Drummond, and a Venn diagram is provided so students can compare Samsø to their hometown. Students are tasked with designing a zero emission ferry for Samsø and are challenged to see how climate change affects them and how an 8-12 year old can make a difference. This lesson is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson allows for a collaborative learning environment for students as it builds on understanding of climate change.
-This lesson features a problem-based approach to learning where students are immersed in solving a real-world problem.
-Students connect a real idealistic community to their own to see what is possible.
-This lesson follows the engineering design process.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students should have a basic understanding of climate change.
-Students should have an understanding of the engineering design process.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students can think-pair-share during the read aloud where students can make predictions or answer questions.
-You can pause the read aloud for students to make observations and predictions about the story.
-Groups of students with mixed abilities can collaborate on their ferry design challenge project.

This activity is based on a discussion in pairs or groups. It can be a pre-activity or a post activity. The main purpose of this activity is to make learners  start with a brainstorming and then discuss their  ideas in relation to entrepreneurship and fund raising.  One important objective is to use the linguistic devices and transition tools to properly use the language for professional purposes or for academic purposes ( communication course). It can be a speaking activity and then developed in a written activity.