Key Stage 4 - Stem cell therapy

Notes for teachers

At a glance

Spinal cord injuries can have devastating consequences because damage to the spinal cord inhibits or even prevents impulses being carried between the central and peripheral nervous system.

In this activity students collaborate as a class to research into stem cells and spinal cord injury. They then use this information to explain how stem cell therapy may be able to mend damaged spinal cords.

Learning Outcomes

Students describe what stem cells are

Students explain how stem cell therapy can help mend spinal cord injuries

Each student will need

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1 copy of the pupil worksheet Access to the document 'KS4 stem cell therapy class research task'. This can be via Google

documents (see instructions below) or as a paper copy.

The best way to use 'KS4 stem cell therapy class research task' is to share it with students on Google documents.

Before the lesson you will need to upload it. To do this, you will need a Google account. If you do not have one, create a class account at https://accounts.google.com/Signup.

Then, go to https://drive.google.com and click on 'upload' (the arrow next to 'create' on the left side of the page). Upload the document. When it is uploaded open the document and click on 'share' in the top right corner. Select 'advanced' and under 'who has access' select 'on - public on the web'. A new menu will appear at the bottom - select 'can edit' and then click on 'save'.

There will be a URL at the top which students will need in order to access the document and edit it without the need to log in to a Google account.You can share this with them by:

Emailing them the link. Posting it on the school website or other online source. Putting the link on the pupil worksheet and share this digitally. Shortening it using https://goo.gl/ and writing the link on the board so they can type

the URL directly into a browser.

For more in-depth information about how to use Google documents in the classroom take a look at this link.

Possible Lesson Activities

We suggest taking two lessons to complete this. Do parts 1 and 2 in one lesson and then finish in the second lesson.

1. Starter activity Show the class the video ‘You've got a nerve'. Ask the class to discuss in pairs what the effect of damage to the spinal cord could be and

listen to their ideas.

2. Individual activity: Stem cell research

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Ask the students to read through the sections Broken circuits and Hope for spinal cord injury on the pupil worksheet.

Assign each student with a number from 1-10. Inform them that this corresponds to the question that they will research. The questions are listed on the pupil worksheet.

Students will now need to use computers with access to the internet. Tell the students how to access the Google document 'KS4 stem cell therapy class research task' and explain that anything they write onto the document will be visible to everyone else - including you!

If you prefer not to use a Google document an alternative is to share 'KS4 stem cell therapy class research task' on a computer shared area or print out copies and give one to each student. They can use the supplied 'Quick links' to access the websites and then write in the answer to their question. This information can be shared with the rest of the class by sticking their sheets onto a space on the wall. Students can then read the sheets to help them answer the question. For a harder task, ask students to work in groups of 5 and assign each student two of the questions. They can research without any URLs (just by using the questions on the pupil worksheet) and discuss the answers in their groups before working alone to answer the question.

3. Individual activity: Writing the answer Students now use the information gathered by the class on the document 'KS4 class

research task' and work alone to write a answer to the question 'How could stem cell therapy help mend spinal cord injuries?'.

They can write their answer in another Google document and share it with you, type it or write it down on paper. It should be around 250-500 words long.

4. Plenary Discuss the main points that students discovered about how stem cell therapy can help

mend spinal cord injuries. Share with the students weblink 1 which is news story from October 2014 about how adult

stem cells taken from a man's olfactory bulb helped mend a spinal cord injury. Discuss how far we are from using stem cells as a mainstream treatment for spinal cord

injury. This news story was one patient and the procedure has not been replicated in others. Link this back to Sherrington to look at how far we have come in the last 80 years or so - what might be possible in the future?

Weblinks

http://www.oxfordsparks.net/video/youve-got-nerve

Weblink 1:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/21/paralysed-darek-fidyka-pioneering-surgery

News story about how stem cell therapy has helped a man with spinal cord injury.

Weblink 2:

http://www.eurostemcell.org/

Reliable, independent information and road-tested educational resources on stem cells and their impact on society.

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