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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: penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming? (vaccine / antibiotic / painkiller) → antibioticPrompt: Does it prevent, cure a bacterial infection, or only ease symptoms?
  2. In one region, measles vaccination coverage rose from 63 % to 95 %. Yearly measles cases fell from 47 to 2. Which conclusion is best supported? (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. / Vaccination has no link with the number of cases.) → Cases fell sharply after vaccination rose, which supports the vaccine reducing measles.Prompt: What happened to cases as coverage increased?
  3. Why are patients told to finish the whole course of antibiotics? (To kill all the bacteria so none survive to become resistant / Because antibiotics are vitamins / To use up the packet / To prevent future viral infections) → To kill all the bacteria so none survive to become resistantPrompt: The toughest bacteria are the last to die.

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 20 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 400 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak? → 20Prompt: Divide the second peak by the first.
  2. Phagocytes are white blood cells that… (clot the blood / carry oxygen / engulf and digest pathogens / make antitoxins only) → engulf and digest pathogensPrompt: "Phago" means eating.

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. What are antigens? (a type of bacteria / medicines / molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises / white blood cells) → molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognisesPrompt: Antibodies fit these molecules.
  2. The immune response: which statement is NOT true? (Antibodies are a type of white blood cell. / Vaccines lead to the formation of memory cells. / Lymphocytes produce antibodies. / Each type of antibody fits one specific antigen.) → 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

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Antibodies, memory cells and the secondary immune response

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    The immune response: which statement is NOT true?

    • A. Each type of antibody fits one specific antigen.
    • B. One antibody can recognise every type of pathogen.
    • C. Vaccines lead to the formation of memory cells.
    • D. The secondary immune response is faster and larger than the first.
  2. Question 2

    Phagocytes are white blood cells that…

    • A. engulf and digest pathogens
    • B. carry oxygen
    • C. clot the blood
    • D. make antitoxins only
  3. Question 3

    After a first infection, a person's antibody level peaked at 15 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 150 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?

    Answer

  4. Question 4

    What are antigens?

    • A. medicines
    • B. molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises
    • C. a type of bacteria
    • D. white blood cells
  5. Question 5

    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

  6. Question 6

    Why don't you usually catch chickenpox twice?

    • A. Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become ill
    • B. The virus dies out after one infection
    • C. Antibiotics stay in the blood for life
    • D. Your red blood cells change

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

  1. 1. B. One antibody can recognise every type of pathogen.

  2. 2. A. engulf and digest pathogens

  3. 3. 10

  4. 4. B. molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises

  5. 5. 20

  6. 6. A. Memory cells make antibodies quickly before you become ill