Aptamer assessment
Teacher Resource
Print outs of all necessary documents are below.
Continue down the page if you wish to use the website version.
If preferred the student assessment word document can be download to the right. Click onto the student activity 4 document link to download.
Activity 4 Student Assignment Sheet
Activity 4 Teacher Resource
To the left is the teacher resource, containing some general background and marking criteria if interested in making it an assessment.
Curriculum
Aims
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To have a summative assessment of their formative activities 1-3 based around cells, cancer, chemotherapy treatment and the use of nanotechnology- aptamers.
Directives for students:
Sort the students into appropriate sized groups and get them to pick a presentation format. They have flexibility to pick a different format to the options listed but it needs to be a format that can still be assessed by the criteria listed at the end of this document.
The student options listed in the assignment sheet include a: video, rap song/ song, play, dance or other. If they wish to pick an alternative communication method they need to get teacher approval first.
The student assignments should include:
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A storyboard or plan of their creative sequence that is annotated with the key points they have included and in their presentation. These key points need to be backed up by references to support the facts behind this nanotechnology research. They can pool from the previous activity resources.
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The groups should have included at least one reference per key point on storyboard/ plan they have created.
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The group should include an explanation of their chosen nanotechnology.
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Include a cell receptor binding to chosen nanotechnology. (highlighting lock and key nature of nanotechnology and cell receptor)
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Their presentation format should convey the process of chemotherapy drug delivery to cell is by their chosen nanotechnology. (from nanotechnology being attached to drug or nanotechnology being put inside capsule all the way to general apoptosis of cell.)
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Their presentation should include an explanation/ demonstration of why you would want to use one of these nanotechnologies for cancer treatment. (The benefits/ pros of using this method).
Structure of assessment:
The assignment has flexibility to display the key concepts to drive creativity and engage the students in their own learning. The teacher can alter this activity to make it quicker, longer, in less or more detail depending on how much time and detail wanted and invested into this task by the students.
Marking Criteria and Curriculum Links
The assignment can cover the following curriculum points:
Knowledge criteria:
Science as a human endeavour:
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Scientific knowledge and understanding of the world changes as new evidence becomes available; science knowledge can develop through collaboration and connecting ideas across the disciplines and practice of science (VCSSU089)
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Considering how advances in technology, combined with scientific understanding of the functioning of body systems, has enabled organ repair and replacement.
This assessment meets this criterion as it is applying advances in nanotechnology to treating aliments in the body, in this instance cancer treatment. Cancer can invade and damage organs, so this is in essence is a way of organ repair.
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Science and technology contribute to finding solutions to a range of contemporary issues; these solutions may impact on other areas of society and involve ethical considerations (VCSSU090)
The discovery and potential applications of aptamer technology are providing potential solutions to more specific cancer treatments for cancer suffers.
Science Understanding:
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Cells are the basic units of living things and have specialised structures and functions (VCSSU092)
Students have to understand the difference between healthy cells and cancerous cells and understand they have special receptors which can allow molecules into the cell (which is what the aptamer binds to, to get into the cell.).
Science inquiry criteria:
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Communicate ideas, findings and solutions to problems including identifying impacts and limitations of conclusions and using appropriate scientific language and representations (VCSIS113)
The students will need to communicate how nanotechnology can be used to treat cancer (findings from research) and convey to audience why they would want to use nanotechnology to do this (because they have identified the benefits of using aptamers to treat cancer)
Students will also have to use appropriate science language or effectively communicate the key scientific ideas involved with nanomedicine technologies to effectively communicate with audience.
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Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to identify relationships, evaluate claims and draw conclusions (VCSIS111)
Students incorporate there learning on aptamer technology from activities allows to be able to understand the lock and key like mechanism of aptamers with receptors. This relationship is communicated through the creative assignment medium.
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Construct and use a range of representations including graphs, keys and models to record and summarise data from students’ own investigations and secondary sources, and to represent and analyse patterns and relationships (VCSIS110)
Creative models or other visual engaging display to communicate knowledge learnt from aptamer research.
