Learning 8 Dec 2016

Medical advances examined.

By Sofia Atun and Pavani Phlaphongphanit
Photograph by CIS Communications

Our first unit in both our Grade 9 Science and Individuals and Societies (I&S) classes was an interdisciplinary unit on the topic of medicine. In I&S, we looked at medical advances throughout time and in Science we looked at how these medical advances have affected our bodies, how we developed stronger immune systems to fight these diseases and how vaccines have helped us prevent these diseases. Overall, the unit gave us an opportunity to think about the connectedness of both disciplines. We were able to combine both important subjects into a real life situation by explaining a medical advancement.

The final task was to create a video based on the educational series, ‘Crash Course’ by Hank and John Green. We were to select a significant medical advancement and research the social, political, economic, environmental, ethical and demographic factors of our chosen topic. Group members worked collaboratively to research and plan how to present their ideas in the Crash Course. We learnt how to use green screen technology and to add animation in the background afterwards.

In addition to deepening our understanding of the history of medicine, this task also provided us with the opportunity to develop teamwork and time management skills. We learnt that it is important to manage our time well to a strict deadline and to communicate our message clearly and concisely. It was a great experience for us to use the green screen, and throughout our recording sessions, we had fun playing around with the animations and background settings. Although editing the video was time-consuming, it was fun to play around with the settings to suddenly become a different person, or, using the green screen, to pretend to be in places we weren’t.

Teacher’s Note

by Piers Tainsh, Head of Individuals and Societies -

The first unit of the year for both I&S and Science has been a resounding success thanks to the input of our teachers and the response of the students. The quality of the final products was excellent, showing not only a great understanding of the topic, but also the development of students’ collaboration and communication skills. Whilst the quality of all were good, I would like to pick out the top three for special mention and share them with you.

Yimiao and Rui

Beatrice and Rachael

Andrej and Brendan

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