LESSON PLAN
Name:
George Joseph
Title
of lesson:
“Blood Typing
and Humoral Immunity”
Length
of lesson:
70 minutes (spread over two class days)
Description
of the class:
Name of course:
Biology
Grade level:
9th-12th grade
Honors or regular:
All levels
TEKS
addressed:
112.43.10 Scientific processes. The student knows that, at all levels of nature, living systems are found
within other living systems, each with its own boundary and limits. The student is expected to:
(A) interpret the functions of systems in organisms including circulatory, digestive, nervous, endocrine,
reproductive, integumentary, skeletal, respiratory, muscular, excretory, and
immune;
The Lesson:
In this lesson students will learn about humoral immunity through a blood typing activity. The activity will serve to emphasize the importance of antigens and antibodies in a meaningful manner.
II. Performance or learner outcomes
After
this lesson has been carried out, students will be able to:
·
define
antigen, antibody, B cell
·
understand
the differences between A, B, AB, and O blood types
·
describe humoral component of the immune system
III.
Resources, materials and supplies needed
-
Ward’s Simulated ABO and Rh Blood Typing Lab Activity (or similar)
-
Latex gloves
IV.
Supplementary materials, handouts.
-
“Blood
Typing” quiz
V. Safety Considerations
-
Backpacks should be placed on front wall.
-
Students must wash their hands with soap upon
arriving in class.
-
Students should wear gloves at all times during
activity
-
No eating or drinking during lab.
-
Simulated blood and antisera should be properly disposed
-
Students should wash their hands after
completing activity
The teacher can
describe a scenario in which the students are emergency room doctors when 4
unconscious patients arrive after losing large amounts of blood. The patients
need to have blood transfusions in order to survive. Students are posed with
the problem of determining what blood types the patients have in order to give
them the right blood transfusion.
Exploration
Students will be told a set of rules concerning the lab prior to starting. These rules will also be written on the front board throughout the entire lab. Upon entering the class students will be asked to keep their backpacks and other items at the front of the room. Students need to then wash their hands with soap and put on gloves. The gloves must remain on until the end of lab. During the lab students should not eat or drink. Simulated blood and antisera should be disposed in the trash can. Students should wash their hands with soap before exiting the class.
Students can be split up into groups, and each group can determine the appropriate blood type for one of the patients. Each group will unknowingly be given a sample of either A, B, AB, or O “blood” corresponding to one of the patients. Groups will also be provided with a plastic tray containing indentations with antiserum A and antiserum B. Students will add their patient’s blood to each antiserum and observe for clumping. The teacher can then write each group’s results on the board.
Explanation
Students can be told that the reason why some of the samples agglutinated was due to our humoral immunity. A basic definition of humoral immunity should be written on the board at this time. The teacher can place a picture of a sample of blood type A and blood type B from this website (http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/landsteiner/readmore.html).
Students can be asked to tell the difference between the blood cell in type A blood and type B blood. Hopefully they will notice that the antigen on the cell surface is different. The definition of an antigen can now be written on the board with further elaboration. The teacher needs to clearly explain that antigens help the body decide what is self and what is foreign.
Students can then be asked to describe the differences in the other objects in the two pictures. The teacher should try to highlight that the A blood has B antibodies and that the B blood has A antibodies. Students should be questioned on what they notice about the shapes of the antibodies. Hopefully the students will realize that B antibody fits nicely onto the B antigen and that the A antibody fits nicely onto the A antigen. The teacher can now write the definition of what an antibody is on the board. A more realistic image of an antibody should now be shown with the characteristic Y shape. The two antigen-binding sites should be clearly circled and labeled. The antibody’s role in marking foreign antigens and its connection to the nonspecific immune system should be discussed.
Going back to the activity, the teacher can ask the students to think about what would happen if type A blood was mixed with type B blood. Hopefully the students should remark that the B antibodies would bind to the type A blood cells’ antigens and vice versa. This binding of antibodies to antigens is how the immune system detects harmful pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. In some situations, like with mixing of different blood types, agglutination occurs, and the antibodies crosslink with the foreign antigens. The teacher can draw a picture to better illustrate this point. Students should be asked why it would be dangerous if a patient with type A blood received a transfusion from a patient with type B blood.
The students, as a class, should now look back at the data they collected from the blood typing activity to determine the unknown blood types of their patients. This might be difficult for some students to visualize so the teacher should help guide this discussion.
END OF DAY 1
The teacher can finish the basic lecture on humoral immunity by describing how antibodies are produced from B cells.
Elaboration
The teacher can discuss with students the importance of the Rh factor during pregnancy. The Ward’s kit mentioned above includes an Rh factor portion which can be utilized at this time.
Evaluation
Students can be asked to complete and turn in the “Blood Typing” quiz.
Name:______________________________________________________________
Blood Typing Quiz
1. What is the purpose of an antigen?
2. What is the purpose of an antibody?
3. Given the following data, what blood type does this patient have?
| Antiserum A | Antiserum B |
 |
 |
A. Blood type
B. Blood type B
C. Blood type AB
D. Blood type O
Please explain why.