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: paracetamol or ibuprofen? (vaccine / antibiotic / painkiller) → painkillerPrompt: Does it prevent, cure a bacterial infection, or only ease symptoms?
  2. In one region, measles vaccination coverage rose from 58 % to 96 %. Yearly measles cases fell from 61 to 1. 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. How did mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 work? (They changed the person's DNA / Cells used the mRNA to make the virus's spike protein, training the immune system / They contained live, full-strength virus / They were antibiotics) → 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 15 arbitrary units after 12 days. After a second infection with the same pathogen it peaked at 75 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak? → 5Prompt: Divide the second peak by the first.
  2. What are antigens? (white blood cells / medicines / molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognises / a type of bacteria) → molecules on the surface of a pathogen that the immune system recognisesPrompt: Antibodies fit these molecules.

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. The immune response: which statement is NOT true? (Lymphocytes produce antibodies. / 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.) → Antibodies are a type of white blood cell.Prompt: What kind of molecule is an antibody?
  2. 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 300 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak? → 20Prompt: Divide the second peak by the first.

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

    What are antigens?

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

  2. Question 2

    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 80 units after 4 days. How many times higher was the second peak?

    Answer

  3. Question 3

    The immune response: which statement is NOT true?

    • A. Lymphocytes produce antibodies.
    • B. Vaccines lead to the formation of memory cells.
    • C. One antibody can recognise every type of pathogen.
    • D. The secondary immune response is faster and larger than the first.

  4. Question 4

    Phagocytes are white blood cells that…

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

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

Free from eurekami.com

for the adult only

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

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

  2. 2. 8

  3. 3. C. One antibody can recognise every type of pathogen.

  4. 4. A. engulf and digest pathogens

  5. 5. 10

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