Drama of the Immune System
Overview
Students will define the main primary agents of the human immune
system. Then they will synthesize the components of the immune
system to create a one-act play in which the “players” (e.g., antigens,
white blood cells) interact with one another. Students will decide
the specifics of the conflict that triggers an immune response and
determine the outcome/resolution.
Venn Diagram
Positioning
Life Science
Time Required
3-4 class periods
Materials
Required
•notebook
•textbook
•internet
•costumes (may be brought
or created by students)
•video-recording device
(optional)
Drama of the Immune System
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Background & Connection to the ISS
Our immune system is a window into so much of how our bodies
function — even beyond how our bodies fight disease. The key
components of our immune system help illustrate cellular functions
and specialties, adaptations, prevalence of foreign bodies (e.g.,
bacteria), reactions to foreign bodies, to stress, etc. This lesson taps
into students’ creativity to open that window and explore our immune
systems.
Researchers on the International Space Station are exploring our
immune systems, in part to expand our understanding of viral and
bacterial pathogens and develop vaccines to fight them. Much of
the focus of CASIS research centers on human health, particularly
in ways that the research can have applications on Earth. In fact,
researchers have been using microgravity in their search for vaccines
against Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella infection is one of the most
common forms of food poisoning in the U.S. Worldwide, Salmonella
diarrhea remains one of the top three causes of infant mortality, so a
vaccine has the potential to make dramatic improvements in health
for developing countries.
Standards
Addressed
The human organism has
systems for digestion,
respiration, reproduction,
circulation, excretion,
movement, control, and
coordination, and for
protection from disease.
These systems interact with
one another.
Disease is a breakdown in
structures or functions of an
organism. Some diseases are
the result of intrinsic failures
of the system. Others are the
result of damage by infection
by other organisms.
The space environment has been shown to induce key changes
in microbial cells that are directly relevant to infectious disease,
including alterations of microbial growth rates, antibiotic resistance,
microbial invasion of host tissue, organism virulence (the relative
ability of a microbe to cause disease) and genetic changes within the
microbe. Collectively, this body of work has shown that the virulence
of this organism increases in microgravity. The targets identified
from each of these microgravity-induced alterations represent an
opportunity to develop new and improved therapeutics, including
vaccines, as well as biological and pharmaceutical agents aimed
specifically at eradicating the pathogen.
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Activity Steps
1. Begin class by showing a short clip from
the student microsite in the You’re Curious
About WHAT?! section. [www.casisacademy.
org] In the clip, a girl talks about the future
when life expectancy will be 100 years old.
Use that notion to explore human health.
Ask students to speculate on when (if ever)
they think the average life expectancy will be
100 years. Survey them by a show of hands:
within the next 10 years? In 10 – 20 years?
And so on.
2. Use the survey as an introduction into a
brief discussion on why people get sick.
(You may need to specify that you’re not
interested only in diseases that kill people,
just sick in general.) Don’t correct any
misconceptions that may arise, but note
them and encourage other students to
challenge any misconceptions that they
detect. Undoubtedly, germs will come up in
the discussion. Some students might even
differentiate between bacteria and viruses.
3. After germs have come up and there’s
not much that students have to add on
why people get sick, ask students why
we’re not sick more often since we are
probably exposed to germs frequently. This
brief discussion is likely to explore some
preventative measures like washing hands
and eating a healthy diet.
4. Explain to students that some of the most
important advancements that science
has made over the last thousand years
have occurred in the medical discipline
— both treatment and prevention based
on better understanding of what makes
us sick. You can ask students if they
know when it became common practice
for doctors to wash their hands before
medical examinations and procedures.
(It was the late 19th century.) Running
water, refrigeration, and vaccines have all
made monumental differences in our life
expectancies and overall health.
5. Ask students if any know what a vaccine is.
After a brief discussion (again, not correcting
any misconceptions), access the student
microsite Space to Innovate section to
explore the entry on Vaccine Development.
[www.casisacademy.org] In the Full Product
Description, there is a good explanation
of vaccines and of the current focus on
vaccines on the ISS. As a class, read the
Full Product Description and ask a student
to explain how vaccines work. Then ask
another student to add to the explanation —
clarifying or correcting anything.
6. The section on vaccines should set up a
deeper exploration of the immune system.
Using textbooks and Internet resources, ask
students to define the following terms:
antibiotics
fever
skin
antibody mucus
vaccine
antigen
pathogen
white blood cells
7. After students define the terms, discuss how
these agents of defense work together to
deflect or eliminate the antigen to prevent
the host body from being infected and
potentially destroyed. Which of these tries
to stop the antigen first? At what point do
the others get involved with destroying
the invader? How does this internal battle
manifest for the host on the outside of the
body?
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8. Break students up into groups of 8-10.
9. Explain that over the next two class periods, they will
be asked to prepare and deliver a short, one-act play
in which the story of the battle between the invader
and the host plays out. Each individual group can
decide the ending of the story (demise of host or
demise of antigen), but their play must include all of
the characters above: Skin, Mucus, White Blood Cell,
Antibody, Fever, Vaccine, Antiobiotics, and of course
the villain, Antigen/Pathogen.
10.After a day or two of writing/preparation/rehearsals, the
groups will perform their one-act play for the rest of the
class.
11.Upon completion, the class will watch the videos of
the performance and discuss how the plays succeeded
in presenting human immune system as well as any
shortcomings or inaccuracies that they had.
Extensions &
Modifications
•Have students create a flow chart
outlining the defenses of the
human body beginning with the
skin, or even with actions taken by
the host to prevent infection, all
the way through the demise of the
antigen. They will need to consider
where each defense mechanism
is triggered and the potential
outcome of each.
•Small Pox, measles, chicken pox
and many other diseases are now
being prevented by vaccines.
Ask students to select one of
these illnesses to research, and
report out to the class on how the
vaccine was developed and its
impact. Students may also choose
to research illnesses that are
currently being researched for the
development of a vaccine, such as
HIV, and report on that research.
•If you do not have the time for
students to prepare and perform
a one-act play, make it a creative
writing assignment. Students can
complete it for homework and/
or spend much less class time
working on it than the play.
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