Human Requirements
Module 8: Medicine, Health, and Technology
This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
It is expected that students will:
- describe the interactions of science and technology in the development of modern medical technologies
- describe basic human anatomy and physiology
- suggest or create a possible technological solution to a health problem
- relate societal values to the use and emphases of health technologies and technological development
- define the relationship of medicine to science, technology, and society
- identify symptoms of illness, treatment, and common cures
- identify simple diseases caused by food
- identify alternative remedies for various health problems
- describe medical technologies associated with the diagnosis and treatment of specific medical problems
- identify and discuss issues involving ethics related to medicine
Suggested Instructional Strategies
- Have students brainstorm ways in which modern health services incorporate technology. For each technology, have students discuss the links to scientific principles and research. Finally, have students discuss the societal value(s) supporting each technology.
- Have groups of students create reports and presentations on the scientific discovery and research involved in a health technology (one technology per group).
- Have students identify biomedical issues that involve various viewpoints (e.g., sex determination, genetic manipulation, genetic engineering). Have them research the basis for each viewpoint and identify the pros and cons. As follow-up, have students form debating teams to present each view.
- Invite guest speakers (e.g., a researcher, ethicist, public health nurse, physician) to present and discuss issues related to health technologies.
- Arrange field trips to medical facilities to view health prevention and treatment technologies (e.g., prostheses, blood analysis, dna testing, ultrasound, computerized health technology). Arrange for students to interview health-care professionals and to share their findings with the class. These activities can also help students with their personal planning and career exploration.
- Lead a discussion on the development of pharmaceuticals, including the technology involved in synthesizing drugs, the importance of traditional knowledge (ethnobotany), and the possible consequences of rain forest destruction.
- Have students conduct and write up experiments around common environmental health tests (e.g., taking microbiological swabs and examining them for the presence of bacteria, testing dishes for lead content, testing water samples for bacterial contamination). Caution: Teachers conducting this activity should emphasize the safety precautions required when handling bacterial cultures.
Suggested Assessment Strategies
- Rate each student's participation in debates on biomedical issues on the basis of accuracy, clarity of arguments, and number of points made.
- Assess students' group charts on health prevention and treatment for detail, scientific references, the number of technologies itemized, and their description of values.
- Assess students' reports for literary qualities, the organization of the points made, scientific and technological citations, and format.
- Assess students' hypothetical proposals for their descriptions of hypotheses, realism, and scientific references.
- Assess students' lab reports of their experiments for format, descriptions of hypotheses and procedures, data collection and reporting, and conclusions.
Recommended Learning Resources
Video
Software
Print
Videodisc / Laserdisc
Table of Contents
Curriculum Branch
Ministry of Education
© 1995 Copyright
Maintained by: Science and Technology Coordinator
Revised: January 27, 1999
Ministry of Education Home Page