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| Author: | Emily Simpson
| | Description: | Research and carry out a drug-safety investigation.
| | Participants: | High School students, ideally in grade 10 or 11 Chemistry classes.
| | Schedule: | Year-long.
| | Goals: | Students understand and participate in three stages of the pharmacological process
| | Products: | Completed Prescribing Information Sheet by each research group, including Description, Clinical Pharmacology, Indications and Usage, and Clinical Trials sections.
| | Assessment: | On-going use of rubrics, detailed comments, evaluation of final Information Sheet and scientific presentation.
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| This expedition was developed in a summer workshop offered by Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), a program funded by NSF at Northeastern University. CACPS supports its science teachers' participation in the program. RET focuses on engaging teachers in engineering research to immerse them in learning about and incorporating all aspects of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) into their curriculum.
Expedition Outline
Overview - Class: Chemistry (Juniors)
- Context: Connected to Living by Chemistry “Alchemy” and “Toxins” Modules
- Big Idea: Students understand and participate in three stages of the pharmacological process.
- Duration: Entire Year
- Time: 7 full Fridays + 5.5 hours class time
- Assessment: Simplified FDA Prescribing Information Sheet.
Stage 1: Creating A Compound - Connection to “Alchemy” Module
- Learning Experiences:
- Extract and synthesize acetylsalicylic acid
- Examine FDA Prescribing Information Sheets
- Characterize aspirin
- Read current media coverage of pharmacological advancement
- Possible visit to research facility
- Product: “Description” section of Prescribing Information Sheet.
Stage 2: Is It Effective? - Connection to “Alchemy” and “Toxin” Modules
- Learning Experiences:
- Testing composition of different brands of aspirin
- Testing dissolution rates of different brands of aspirin.
- Which brand would I recommend? Cost benefit analysis of different brands.
- Product: “Clinical Pharmacology” and “Indications and Usage” sections of Prescribing Information Sheet.
Stage 3: Is It Safe? - Connection to “Toxin” Module
- Learning Experiences:
- Observing/quantifying model organism (Daphnia)
- What makes it toxic? Students develop a question and an experiment to test their question. Each group will perform a unique “clinical trial” testing various factors such as dosage, drug interactions, and population response.
- Product: “Clinical Trials” section of Prescribing Information Sheet. Groups will need to share their results as a scientific community, and they will need to cite trials done by other students in their section.
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