Designing for Intellectual Engagement
Calgary Board of Education: High School Learning Leaders
2013
Galileo Educational Network
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
1
Improving Ideas – Designing for Deep Understanding in Science
Characteristic(s) you are looking for: ____________________________
Evidence of the Characteristic
Suggestions for Improvement
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
2
Exploring Topics for Intellectually Engaging Task Possibilities
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
3
Establishing Worthwhile Learning Tasks
Use the ideas you explored in the concept-map to help you establish worthwhile learning
goals for your students.
1. What is most important for students to understand about the topic and/or discipline?
(NOTE: these are often articulated in the front matters of your Programs of Study. What
are the central ideas or key understandings that students must acquire within this area
of study?)
2. What important competencies (ways of knowing, doing and being) reflective of the
discipline or field of study must students develop?
3. How do experts who work in this field do their work? What is the learning culture of
this discipline field like? How do experts in this field bring forward evidence and
present their work?
4. In what ways is technology used within this discipline field to advance and document
knowledge? What technologies could students use to demonstrate understanding
and/or that mirror the ways technologies are used within the discipline?
Complete the following learning goal statements:
 Through this study I want my students to understand that…

And I want my students to be able to (identify 1or2 important competencies)…
Generate ideas about task possibilities or a series of activities that would enable
students to meet these learning goals. How will you begin or “hook” students into the
topic? What might you do to provoke thinking and/or fuel students’ curiosity?
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
4
Assessment For Learning
Develop an assessment plan for a task or series of activities that students will be completing
between now and our next session.
Brief description of task or learning activities:
1. Establishing clear and specific criteria with students
 What real-world or authentic exemplars could you use as models to help students
identify characteristics of high quality work and to guide them as you generate
assessment criteria together?
Anticipated criteria emerging from the exemplars:
Draft Quality
Professional Quality
2. What kinds of feedback loops (suggestions for improvement and time for revision) will
you create to support student learning? When will these loops occur?
3. What evidence of learning might you gather each day and throughout the study to help
inform your teaching?
4. How might you use the evidence of learning you gather to inform student next learning
steps?
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
5
Individual Reflection
1. How have you been able to impact teaching practices within your department?
2. What structures, processes and resources have been put in place to enable this to occur?
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
6
CASE STUDY #1
Science – Survivor
What matters about Biological Sciences?
Advances in medical technology and science
have made organ procurement, the search
and transfer of organs and tissue from one
body to another, very important issues.
Since the demand for healthy organs far
exceeds the supply, many questions enter
the debate that blends medicine with politics,
ethics, research, religion, and other concerns.
As health care costs continue to skyrocket, many critics are arguing that our health care
dollars are being misused. In particular, they argue that expensive procedures, such as
organ transplants for indigent people, cost taxpayers $100,000 or more. They argue that
people who do not abuse their bodies should have preference over indigent people. They
argue that a transplant recipient with a healthy life style has a greater chance of survival
since organ transplants are not without challenges. For instance the human immune system
is the body's main defense against infectious organisms. In this capacity it works like a welldrilled army. Although the immune system is essential for life, when a person needs an
organ transplant, the immune system suddenly becomes a deadly force, attacking and
destroying the implant.
Value judgments are at the very core of the transplant selection procedure. Factors such as
duration of benefit inherently employ value judgments. What constitutes a substantial
benefit? Considering that every person on the transplant list will benefit from a transplant,
how do you decide which person benefits the most? Does a person receive a transplant
simply because his/her life will be prolonged, or does the quality of the life prolonged
matter?
The Learning Task
You are a member of a transplant team. It has been determined that your patient has had a
major organ failure due to a disease and that treatment or a transplant is necessary. A
number of patient profiles have been provided for you and we have permission from the
Mayo Clinic (where they originated) to use them. You may select from one of the profiles
provided or choose to create your own. (The following organs are appropriate: heart, lungs,
liver, kidney, intestine, larynx, blood vessels. Exceptions include: nerves, hand, skin, cornea,
bone and marrow.)
Your team must determine the cause of the organ failure, determine treatment options and
make recommendations about whether or not a transplant is in order. Before your team can
proceed with treatment you must create a multimedia presentation to outline the
background of the medical condition of your patient and your recommendations to the
hospital board of directors. A number of the board members are concerned about growing
health care expenditures and are looking for ways of reducing these growing costs. Through
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
7
your presentation, your team must demonstrate your careful consideration and
understanding of the following:
 how the patient's disease impacts her/his quality of life
 Clear illustrations/models of the affected organ and impacts on the body systems
 Explanation of the organ's function in supporting life
 the organ's relationship to surrounding organ systems
 the role of the immune system in pathogen protection
 how organ transplantation can threaten equilibrium (i.e. use of immunosuppressant drugs)
 the ethical and physiological issues involved in transplants
 the dilemmas and issues that you dealt with in selecting a suitable treatment or
organ for your patient
 available treatment or transplant options
 treatment recommendation and justification of your selection
 how your team has considered the perspectives of the donor’s family, donor’s
lifestyle, and the recipient's lifestyle.
 current, ongoing research (Human Genome Project, Cloning, etc.) and speculate on
how this research might assist organ transplant or treatment developments in the
future
 What you believe to be the broader implications of treatment or organ
transplantation on society
Assessment for Learning
1. Use the assessment rubric below to guide you in your research and in developing
your presentation.
2. Rehearse your presentation and discuss with your team where you think it falls in
relation to each of the dimensions outlined on the assessment rubric. Which of the
dimensions do you feel most confident in? Which areas require improvement?
3. Take turns presenting your work to another team. Provide and obtain feedback and
suggestions in relation to an area identified for improvement. Revise your
presentation in accordance to the feedback you receive.
4. Use the assessment rubric to guide your final reflections about the quality of the
presentation your team delivered to the “hospital board”. Provide specific evidence
and examples from the presentation to support your claims related to each
dimension.
1
Anatomy &
Physiology
model
incorrectly
demonstrates
the structure
and function
of the organ
identification
of how the
organ
interacts with
other systems
is limited
2
model correctly
demonstrates the
structure and
function of the
organ
identifies how the
organ interacts
with other
systems
3
model correctly
demonstrates the
structure and
function of the
organ within the
organ system
identifies how the
organ, along with
other systems,
maintains
equilibrium within
the organism
4
model goes beyond the
correct recall of
substantial facts by
demonstrating a mastery
of anatomy and
physiology within a
problem solving context
showing the structure and
function of the organ
within the organ system
as it relates to the
solution of treatment
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
8
options open to the
patient they are dealing
with.
explores how the organ,
along with other systems
maintains equilibrium
and how the transplant or
treatment they are
proposing will impact this
equilibrium
describes not only how
the patient's disorder
disrupted homeostasis
but describes additional
factors that might have
contributed to this
disruption
demonstrates the role of
the patient's immune
system once the
disease/disorder is
recognized and describes
the manner in which they
have taken this into
account in the
treatment/transplant
solution they are
proposing
Diagnosis
identifies the
patient's
disorder
demonstrates
the role of the
immune
system
describes how the
patient's disorder
disrupts
homeostasis
demonstrates the
role of the
patient's immune
system in
pathogen
recognition
describes how the
patient's disorder
disrupts
homeostasis and
consequently her
quality of life
demonstrates the ro
le of the patient's
immune
system once the
disease/disorder is
recognized
Treatment
describes a
limited
number of
treatments
and/or modes
of organ
transplants
identifies the
type of
treatment or
organ
transplant
selected for
the patient
describes a
limited number of
treatments
and/or modes of
organ transplants
available today or
in the future
identifies the type
of treatment or
organ transplant
selected for the
patient with
consideration of
the patient's
lifestyle
evaluates a limited
number of
treatments and /or
modes of organ
transplants
available today or in
the future
identifies and
justifies the type of
treatment or organ
transplant selected
for the patient with
consideration of the
patient's lifestyle
evaluates a wide variety
of treatments and/or
models of organ
transplants available
presently and in the
future
identifies and justifies the
type of treatment or
organ transplant selected
for the patient with
consideration of the
patient's lifestyle and
predicts how patient's
lifestyle will be enhanced
and hindered
Societal
Implications
describes how
advances in
technology
impact the
individual or
evaluates how
advances in
technology
impact
the individual or
evaluates how
advances in
technology impact
the individual and
society
details the ethical
dilemmas of technological
advances in cloning, stem
cell research, and
xenotransplants
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
9
society
society
Prepared for CBE High School Learning Leaders
by Galileo Educational Network, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary - 2013
10