Back to the lesson plan builder
Lesson length30 min45 min60 min
Questions🔀 New questions

Print the plan for yourself; the student sheet prints on its own page after it.

Science lesson plan · 11th grade (Year 12 in England) · 30 minutes

Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response

Human body and health

CCSS NGSS.HS-LS1-2CCSS NGSS.SEP 4England: GCSE Combined Science: Infection and responseEngland: GCSE Biology: Monoclonal antibodies

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Vaccines, antibiotics and painkillers: what each can do

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: Stopwatches, Body diagrams, Mini whiteboards, A diagram or short video clip of the idea, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Vaccines, antibiotics and painkillers: what each can do). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Which type of medicine is described: contains dead, weakened or harmless parts of a pathogen? (vaccine / antibiotic / painkiller) → vaccinePrompt: Does it prevent, cure a bacterial infection, or only ease symptoms?
  2. In one region, measles vaccination coverage rose from 63 % to 96 %. Yearly measles cases fell from 66 to 2. Which conclusion is best supported? (Vaccination has no link with the number of cases. / The vaccine made measles cases rise. / Cases fell sharply after vaccination rose, which supports the vaccine reducing measles. / The data prove that measles has disappeared everywhere.) → Cases fell sharply after vaccination rose, which supports the vaccine reducing measles.Prompt: What happened to cases as coverage increased?
  3. How did mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 work? (Cells used the mRNA to make the virus's spike protein, training the immune system / They changed the person's DNA / They were antibiotics / They contained live, full-strength virus) → Cells used the mRNA to make the virus's spike protein, training the immune systemPrompt: mRNA carries instructions to ribosomes; it does not enter the nucleus to alter DNA.

Hook · 3 min

  • Ask everyone to find their pulse, then jump for 30 seconds and find it again.
  • Share the objective: Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 25 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 250 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?
  • Step 1: 250 ÷ 25 = 10
  • Step 2: So the answer is: 10
  • Answer: 10
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 10 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 100 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak? → 10Prompt: Divide the second peak by the first.
  2. Why don't you usually catch chickenpox twice? (Antibiotics stay in the blood for life / The virus dies out after one infection / Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become ill / Your red blood cells change) → Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become illPrompt: The immune system "remembers" the antigen.

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Why don't you usually catch chickenpox twice? (Your red blood cells change / The virus dies out after one infection / Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become ill / Antibiotics stay in the blood for life) → Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become illPrompt: The immune system "remembers" the antigen.
  2. The immune response: which statement is NOT true? (Each type of antibody fits one specific antigen. / Antibodies are a type of white blood cell. / The secondary immune response is faster and larger than the first. / Vaccines lead to the formation of memory cells.) → Antibodies are a type of white blood cell.Prompt: What kind of molecule is an antibody?

Watch out for

  • Everyday meanings of words getting in the way of the science meaning: define key words explicitly.
  • Remembering facts without the reason: ask "why?" and "what is the evidence?"

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Vaccines, antibiotics and painkillers: what each can do.
  • Use concrete materials: stopwatches.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-11.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

eurekami

Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    The immune response: which statement is NOT true?

    • A. Lymphocytes produce antibodies.
    • B. The secondary immune response is faster and larger than the first.
    • C. Vaccines lead to the formation of memory cells.
    • D. Memory cells are only made after a vaccine, never after an infection.

  2. Question 2

    What are antigens?

    • A. molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises
    • B. white blood cells
    • C. medicines
    • D. a type of bacteria

  3. Question 3

    After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 25 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 500 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?

    Answer

  4. Question 4

    After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 10 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 50 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?

    Answer

  5. Question 5

    After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 10 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 100 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?

    Answer

  6. Question 6

    Monoclonal antibodies are used in pregnancy tests and some cancer treatments. What makes them useful?

    • A. They kill every type of cell
    • B. They are identical and bind to one specific target molecule
    • C. They are a kind of antibiotic
    • D. They are made of DNA

Free from eurekami.com

for the adult only

Answer key: Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response

  1. 1. D. Memory cells are only made after a vaccine, never after an infection.

  2. 2. A. molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises

  3. 3. 20

  4. 4. 5

  5. 5. 10

  6. 6. B. They are identical and bind to one specific target molecule