Asthma+Module

This is the "Asthma in Urban Communities" module. In this module, you will find a synopsis, outline and individual lesson plans.

References: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/19/nyregion/study-finds-asthma-in-25-of-children-in-central-harlem.html

http://rangel.house.gov/news/press-releases/2011/05/rangelhudgrant.shtml

Other Asthma-related Lesson Plan Resources (Can be scaffolded up for higher grades):

Areas of Feedback: 1. Given that this module, a part of the Human Body Unit, encompasses mostly the respiratory system, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how I could adequately teach the other human body systems in enough depth to ensure that students have an opportunity to master the content while still being engaged.

2. Could you suggest an alternative way for differentiating/scaffolding the first lesson?

Feedback: 1. I also am struggling with this question. One idea that I have (but am not fully confident it will work) is that you can have each group be responsible for researching a particular body system and then present it to each other. One issue that I have with this idea though is that students will focus so intently on their own body system that they still may not learn the other body systems. 2. I really like your first lesson. I think it pulls in the students because it's all about them. When you are reading the excerpts out loud as a class, maybe you can differentiate by stopping at different parts of the excerpt and pose questions to check for reading comprehension. You can perhaps group your students by reading ability at this point and ask low level groups to answer different questions than high level readers. I like how you scaffolded the last part of your lesson where you incorporate different levels of math in discussing your population of students. Very well thought out lesson! Hope this helps! ~Irene 3.I think an asthma module is a great way to teach the respiratory system - it is definitely much more relevant and exciting than teaching the organs and their functions. I want to use it next year! Your concern about the other body systems is legitimate - if you spend 4-5 weeks on asthma, you just won't have enough time to teach all of the other body systems in significant amounts of depth. I definitely think it is worth it though because students will really remember a unit on asthma. To help alleviate a bit of your concern, if you look at the 8th grade tests from past years, there are really only 4 body systems that tend to show up most frequently - respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and nervous/muscular/skeletal. You could probably include several lessons in your asthma module about how asthma impacts the circulatory system. I spent approximately 7 weeks on the body system this year. If you spent 5 weeks on asthma (respiratory + circulatory) and 1 week on digestive, you would still have a little bit of time to cover nervous/muscular/skeletal (although the only information you need to know about these systems are that they coordinate your movement/response). ~ Rachel S



1. One of the great things about teaching the body systems is that they are all related. I think at any given moment you can relate all of the systems to asthma even though the main one is respratory. You could easily talk about how each system is affected by asthma, especially what is happening to a body systems during an asthma attack. 2. I think that by allowing students to work in groups that will help with differentiating because student can exlpain things to each other and also higher level studetns will take on the higher level tasks of the day. You may want to simply summarize each part in short to help guide students. -Kate Anderson

1. I like Kate's suggestion of going through how the body's other systems respond to an asthma attack. From there, it's definitely possible to explore the circulatory system, nervous system and endocrine systems. You could also even stretch it a bit to cover how the muscular system would be affected by decreased oxygen availability during a severe asthma attack. - Rohit

1. I also like Kate's idea about highlighting how the other systems are affected by an asthma attack. This would be a nice way to tie the rest of the unit to this introductory module. A bigger idea in your human body unit (which is also highlighted by the standards) is that of homeostasis and how it is maintained within and between each system. Teaching about a chain reaction amongst the systems from just one illness is a great way to help students grasp that concept. -Alexia