High school curriculum outline describing simulated public‑health and biotech scenarios

92 Teaching Minds 5. Designer Genes—Students consider ethical and political issues related to genetic engineering, for example, cloning, gene therapies, and the manufacturing of drugs. In the process they learn about DNA and the basics of genetic engineering. 6. Plant Plague—Students working for a fictional county farming agency are faced with an anomalous powdery mildew that has infected wheat in their local area. They investigate how the new strain of mildew arose and how it spread to this area and crop in particular. They work to develop a treatment for the current crop; then they develop a way to alter the wheat or the way in which it is grown to prevent future fungal outbreaks. 7. Medical Detective—Students work with the fictional county medical examiner to conduct medical investigations. They are asked to determine the time and cause of death for various mysterious cases. 8. Cutting Costs Without Cutting Care—In this rotation, students consider business aspects related to healthcare. Students play the role of a hospital consultant whose job it is to discern why the hospital is losing money and make recommendations for correcting the situation. In the process they confront ethical issues related to cutting costs in the area of healthcare. 9. Outbreak—In this rotation, students work in the areas of infectious disease, epidemiology, and public health administration. They begin by diagnosing the cause of a fictional patient’s infection that stems from bacteria in a food item. They then learn that many people across the country have been found with similar illnesses. Students have to develop a plan to manage the outbreak due to the availability of the food item to a wide population. Later they are fictionally hired to develop a readiness plan for a possible worldwide pandemic. Students spend weeks in each rotation. What do they learn? Remember, the answer cannot be that they learn about health sci- ences. Why not? Because that is really not the issue. No high school student learn- ing a subject really learns that subject. Students forget what they have HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023838