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16 August 2019 A Project-Based Biology Unit: Star Athlete Collapses on the Football Field
Christine Lotter, Richard Hoppmann, Stephanie Bailey, Nathan Carnes, Daniel A. Kiernan
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Abstract

Students in a high school biology class were introduced to the case of “Marcus” (a pseudonym), a high school football player who collapsed on the football field during a game and was rushed to the emergency room with various symptoms. Throughout the two-week, project-based unit, students worked in cooperative groups to diagnose Marcus, learning about various inherited diseases and heat-related ailments that might impact young athletes. This unit integrates ultrasound technology into the classroom as a teaching and diagnostic technique and introduces students to health science careers. Student groups work to produce a final product that is presented to a public audience (e.g., parents, teachers, coaches) to increase their awareness of the science content underlying the causes of sudden collapses in young athletes. This learning experience ended with students individually writing a letter to Marcus's family explaining his diagnosis and the related biology concepts.

© 2019 National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.
Christine Lotter, Richard Hoppmann, Stephanie Bailey, Nathan Carnes, and Daniel A. Kiernan "A Project-Based Biology Unit: Star Athlete Collapses on the Football Field," The American Biology Teacher 81(6), 442-448, (16 August 2019). https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2019.81.6.442
Published: 16 August 2019
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KEYWORDS
cell biology
Genetics
Inquiry
project-based learning
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