LESSON PLAN: SCENARIO

YEAR LEVEL: 11

DATE: 1 October 2015

TIME: 90 mins (Double lesson)

TEACHER: Mrs
Whiting

BIOLOGY: Unit 4:
Infectious Diseases

TOPIC: Vaccination

ACTIVITY
The purpose of this activity is to allow students to develop their understanding on how a
vaccine works in creating immunity against a specific pathogen. This is done by posing a
scenario that will allow students to gather and quantify information to support or oppose
the scenarios context.
Scenario:
A child at day care is allergic to components of the MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella)
Vaccine and is unable to be vaccinated, therefore susceptible to contracting these
diseases. A family that send their three children to the same day care have decided to not
vaccinate their children. After discovering a member of the family has contracted Measles,
the family still send their 3 children to day care and fail to inform the staff of the possible
infection. Do you think the family did the right or wrong thing in failing to inform the
centre and sending their children regardless of the risk to the unvaccinated child?
Explain your reasoning with the use of a graphical organiser to answer the following
questions:
What type of vaccine is the MMR and how does it create immunity?
Does the MMR vaccine have side effects?
What are the symptoms and implications of contracting measles?
Why would people consider not vaccinating?
STUDENTS PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE
Students have a sound understanding of the immune system and how immunity against
pathogens is achieved.
RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR LESSON
Text books and lesson notes
Laptops with internet access
ACARA CURRRIUCULM CONTENT
SCIENCE AS A HUMAN ENDEVOUR
ACSBL105: The acceptance of scientific knowledge can be influenced by the social,
economic and cultural context in which it is considered
ACSBL106: People can use scientific knowledge to inform the monitoring,
assessment and evaluation of risk
ACSBL107: Science can be limited in its ability to provide definitive answers to
public debate; there may be insufficient reliable data available, or interpretation of
the data may be open to question
SCIENCE INQUIRY SKILLS
ACSBL101: Select, construct and use appropriate representation, including
diagrams and flow charts, to communicate conceptual understanding, solve
problems and make predictions
ACSBL102: Communicate to specific audiences and for specific purposes using
appropriate language, nomenclature, genres and modes, including scientific reports
SCIENCE UNDERSTANDING
ACSBL123: In vertebrates, immunity may be passive (for example, antibodies
gained via the placenta or via antibody serum injection) or active (for example,
acquired through actions of the immune system as a result of natural exposure to a
pathogen or through the use of vaccines)
ACSBL125: The spread of a specific disease involves a wide range of interrelated

factors (for example, persistence of the pathogen within hosts, the transmission
mechanism, the proportion of the population that are immune or have been
immunised, and the mobility of individuals of the affected population); analysis of
these factors can enable prediction of the potential for an outbreak, as well as
evaluation of strategies to control the spread of disease
ASSESSMENT OF LESSON OUTCOMES
As this is a subject area that may evoke some ethical and moral discussions, students are
asked to keep their personal opinions regarding decisions to vaccinate to themselves.
This activity is formative and will be completed individually. Students will hand up their
completed work for assessment and feedback.
EVALUATION

Were the students engaged in the lesson?

Did the use of a graphical organiser aid the students to understand the positive and
negative aspects of vaccination or did it cause confusion?