coronavirus vaccine TN
Teacher Notes for “COVID-19 Vaccines – How do they
work?”[footnoteRef:1] [1: By Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Department of
Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 2021. These Teacher Notes and
the related Student Handout are available at
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusvaccine.
]
Students begin by proposing a hypothesis to explain why most
people who have had COVID-19 or have been vaccinated do not become
sick if they are exposed to the coronavirus in the future. Students
analyze how the adaptive immune system responds to a coronavirus
infection and how this response differs after a first vs. second
exposure to the coronavirus. Then, students analyze the biological
effects of an RNA vaccine and revise their hypothesis about how a
vaccine protects against illness. Finally, students use reliable
sources to investigate their questions about COVID-19 vaccines.
Before beginning this activity, your students should complete
either version of the Student Handout for the prerequisite
activity, “Coronaviruses – What They Are and How They Can Make You
Sick”
(https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusintro).
NGSS Learning Goals
In accord with the Next Generation Science Standards
(NGSS)[footnoteRef:2]: [2: Quotations are from
http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/HS%20LS%20topics%20combined%206.13.13.pdf
]
· This activity helps students to understand the Disciplinary
Core Idea LS1.A. “Systems of specialized cells within organisms
help them perform the essential functions of life.”
· Students engage in two Scientific Practices:
· “Constructing Explanations. Apply scientific ideas, principles
and/or evidence to provide an explanation of phenomena…”
· “Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information.
Critically read scientific literature adapted for classroom use to
determine the central ideas or conclusions and/or to obtain
scientific and/or technical information… Communicate scientific
and/or technical information or ideas…”
· This activity helps students to understand the Crosscutting
Concept, “Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Prediction. Cause and
effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex
natural… systems by examining what is known about smaller scale
mechanisms within the system.”
· This activity helps students to prepare for Performance
Expectation HS-LS1-1. “Construct an explanation based on evidence
for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins
which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of
specialized cells.”
Instructional Suggestions and Biology Background
If your students are learning online, we recommend that they use
the Google Doc version of the Student Handout, which is available
at
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusvaccine.
To answer questions 4, 10 and 12, students can either print the
relevant pages, draw on those and send you pictures, or they will
need to know how to modify a drawing online. They can double-click
on the relevant drawing in the Google Doc, which will open a
drawing window. Then, they can use the editing tools to add lines
and other shapes.[footnoteRef:3] You may want to revise the
GoogleDoc or Word document to prepare a version of the Student
Handout that will be more suitable for your students; if you do
this, please check the format by viewing the PDF. [3: To draw a
shapeAt the top of the page, find and click Shape.Choose the
shape you want to use.Click and drag on the canvas to draw your
shape.When you are done, click Save and Close.]
A key is available upon request to Ingrid Waldron
([email protected]). The following paragraphs provide additional
instructional suggestions and background information – some for
inclusion in your class discussions and some to provide you with
relevant background that may be useful for your understanding
and/or for responding to student questions.
To maximize student participation and learning, I suggest that
you have your students work individually or in pairs to complete
each group of related questions and then have a class discussion
after each group of questions. In each discussion, you can probe
student thinking and help them develop a sound understanding of the
concepts and information covered before moving on to the next group
of related questions.
The novel coronavirus that is causing the current global
pandemic is called SARS-Cov-2 because of its similarity to
SARS-Cov, a coronavirus that caused an epidemic of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome in 2002-2004, mainly in Asia. This earlier
coronavirus disease was COVID, which had different characteristics
than COVID-19, the current pandemic disease.
Question 1 presents the anchoring phenomena in the bulleted
sentences. The risk of infection with coronavirus is much reduced
after an initial coronavirus infection, although this protection is
weaker for the elderly
(https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00662-0/fulltext).
The rate of reinfection appears to be higher if people are exposed
to new variants of the coronavirus that are less susceptible to the
antibodies and memory cells developed in response to the original
infection (“Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19 Pandemic”,
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusOrigin).[footnoteRef:4]
Similarly, the vaccines have been highly effective in preventing
COVID-19, but the vaccines against the original strain of the new
coronavirus have been less effective against the new
variants.[footnoteRef:5] The driving questions for this activity
are why most people who have had COVID-19 do not get it again and
why most people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine don’t get
COVID-19. [4: The available evidence indicates that immunity
against COVID-19 lasts at least six months and probably more unless
certain variants or strains of the coronavirus become common. This
contrasts with the common cold, where reinfection is common,
because the common cold is caused by many different viruses, and
immunity against one does not result in immunity against the
others. ] [5: See pages 7 and 9-11 will for additional information
and references.]
Question 1 is intended to stimulate a class discussion. If your
students answer that people who have had COVID-19 or been
vaccinated have become “immune”, probe their understanding of what
has changed in the body to make the person “immune”. You may want
to display students’ questions about immune responses and a
consensus hypothesis or several hypotheses to be evaluated as
students learn more during this activity. Then, you can refer to
the questions at appropriate times as you progress through the
activity, and you and your students will revisit the hypotheses
when you discuss questions 13 and 14. Your class discussion of
question 1 should provide a transition to learning about immune
defenses against coronavirus infection.
Immune Defenses against Coronavirus Infection
Students are expected to answer question 2 based on what they
have learned in the prerequisite activity
(https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusintro),
which includes an introduction to parts of the innate immune
system. The innate immune system responds to molecules that are
widespread in viruses or bacteria; in contrast, the adaptive immune
system response to molecules that are specific to one type of virus
or bacteria. To learn more about the innate immune system, you can
use the sources recommended on pages 5-6 of these Teacher
Notes.
Students are expected to answer question 4c by pointing out
that, if antibodies are bound to the spike proteins, then the spike
proteins cannot bind to the receptor molecules on body cells, so
the coronavirus can’t enter the cells to produce more
coronaviruses. Additional effects of antibodies bound to antigens
include increased phagocytosis of the antigen-containing virus.
Also, antibodies bound to spike proteins on the surface of an
infected cell attract natural killer cells that can kill the
cell.
An antigen is a foreign protein, carbohydrate or glycoprotein
that stimulates a response of the adaptive immune
system.[footnoteRef:6] An antibody binds to a specific part of an
antigen molecule, often called an epitope. An antigen-presenting
cell presents fragments of the protein, carbohydrate or
glycoprotein that contain the epitope. You may want to help your
students understand and remember the term antigen by pointing out
that an antigen generates an antibody response. [6: A crucial
property of the immune system is that it responds to "foreign"
antigens (e.g., molecules in invading viruses or bacteria). When it
is functioning properly, the immune system does not respond to
molecules that are part of the person's own body. ]
Page 2 of the Student Handout illustrates the NGSS Disciplinary
Core Idea, “Systems of specialized cells within organisms help them
perform the essential functions of life.” Although the top figure
shows a single antigen-presenting cell, a single helper T cell, and
a single initial B cell, you should be aware that there are
multiple cells of each type. The same caution applies to the figure
on page 3 of the Student Handout. To facilitate student
comprehension, the figure on the top of page 2 of the Student
Handout omits cytotoxic T cells, memory cytotoxic T cells, and
memory helper T cells, which are discussed at the bottom of page 2
of the Student Handout. You may want to clarify that an immune
response to an antigen activates only the T cells and B cells that
respond specifically to that antigen (see figure below).
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/49/9a/b7/499ab70626091c719ff261a9de3079eb.png)
The figure below shows how a cytotoxic T cell kills a virally
infected cell. The death of infected cells prevents coronavirus
replication and releases the coronavirus so it can be taken up and
digested by phagocytic cells. You may want to explain to your
students that “cyto-” stands for cell and ask them to explain why
these T cells are called cytotoxic. T cells mature in the
thymus.
cause apoptosis.
(https://thebiologyblogs.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/helper-t-cells-and-cytotoxic-t-cells/)
The second figure on page 2 of the Student Handout shows the
general pattern of antibody responses after a first and second
exposure to an antigen, not actual measurements of antibody
concentration in the blood after first and second exposures to the
coronavirus. (Exposure refers to an exposure in which enough
coronaviruses enter the body so they could start an infection.)
Antibody production is very low during the first week after the
first exposure to a viral infection; during that time,
antigen-presenting cells are presenting antigen to helper T cells
that are stimulating B cells that multiply and mature into cells
that produce antibodies that bind to the viral antigens. After a
second exposure to the same virus, memory B cells result in a
faster and stronger antibody response. The figure below shows that
cytotoxic T cells also show a stronger response after a second
exposure to the same virus.
(https://novel-coronavirus.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/182143ad-a94b-4315-acc1-2a352003c1e7/nfgz002.gif)
Many aspects of the complex and sophisticated immune system are
omitted from the Student Handout and these Teacher Notes. If you
want to learn more about immune responses, I recommend the
following resources.
· Understanding the Immune System in One Video (15 minutes;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jBpv9fYSU4)
· Coronavirus: How It Infects Us and How We Might Stop It
(minutes 26-52 of
https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/coronavirus-how-it-infects-us-and-how-we-might-stop-it/).
· How the Body Reacts to Viruses
(https://onlinelearning.hms.harvard.edu/hmx/immunity/)
· The Immune Havoc of COVID-19
(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-immune-havoc-of-covid-19/)
Understanding the immune system response to a coronavirus
infection can help students to understand two of the tests for
coronavirus infection. A sample of blood can be tested for
antibodies against the novel coronavirus; if these antibodies are
found, this indicates that the person has been infected with
coronavirus. The rapid antigen test detects coronavirus proteins by
looking for reactions with appropriate antibodies; this test is
less accurate but a faster way to test for current infection than
the PCR test which tests for coronavirus RNA. A good explanation of
all three tests is available at
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/research/diseases/coronavirus/serology-testing.html.
How the COVID-19 Vaccines Work
Pages 3-4 of the Student Handout present an overview of how the
RNA vaccines prevent COVID-19. After a COVID-19 vaccine is
injected, the RNA is taken up by muscle cells and/or white blood
cells, represented by the large cell near the top of the figure on
page 3 of the Student Handout. To help your students understand
this figure, you may want to ask them this question.
All the cells in this figure are drawn much bigger than actual
cells, but one of the cells is shown much too big relative to the
other cells. Mark this cell “too big”.
Page 4 of the Student Handout introduces students to the
distinction between becoming sick with a symptomatic infection and
an asymptomatic infection that occurs when memory cells quickly
produce an immune response that prevents the coronaviruses from
replicating.[footnoteRef:7] After vaccination, the fast, strong
immune response results in relatively few coronaviruses which can
be quickly eliminated by phagocytes before symptoms begin. The low
viral load in the few people who become infected with coronavirus
after being vaccinated indicates that vaccination reduces not only
the risk of COVID-19, but also the rate of transmission of
coronavirus infections
(https://www.advisory.com/en/daily-briefing/2021/03/04/vaccine-transmission).
[7: The Student Handout does not mention that many initial
coronavirus infections are asymptomatic, especially in children.
Available evidence suggests that these asymptomatic infections
result in effective immunity against repeat infections. These
asymptomatic infections also play a major role in spreading
coronavirus infections; see “Changing Recommendations about How to
Reduce Your Risk of Coronavirus Infection – What is the evidence?
(https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusprev).]
Question 13 returns to the driving question introduced in
question 1. During your class discussion of student answers to this
question, you may want to refer back to the hypotheses from your
discussion of question 1. In addition, I recommend that you expand
the discussion to include the reasons why most people who have had
COVID-19 do not get it again.
Question 14 explores the important point that immunity is
variable, not absolute. The data provided in the table immediately
preceding question 14 indicate very good protection against mild or
moderate COVID-19 and even stronger protection against the risk of
severe COVID-19 which can require hospitalization or result in
death. The data shown are for the vaccine made by Moderna
(https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2035389). The results
for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are similar. I recommend that you
emphasize the excellent protection against severe COVID-19, which
can result in hospitalization or death. It would be helpful to know
more about how well the vaccine protects against the long-term
symptoms sometimes triggered by even mild or moderate COVID-19
infections, but this will take more time. To help your students
meet the challenge of answering question 14, you may want to
mention that the number and effectiveness of memory cells formed
after vaccination varies between individuals; therefore, in some
cases, the memory cells produce an immune response that is just
fast and strong enough to limit the coronavirus infection to a mild
or moderate case of COVID-19.
The two RNA vaccines approved for use in the US at the beginning
of 2021 were developed by Moderna and by Pfizer and BioNTech. Both
vaccines are reported to have ~95% efficacy. This means that the
rate of COVID-19 was ~95% lower among the vaccinated group than
among the placebo group in their phase 3 clinical
trials.[footnoteRef:8] For example, in the clinical trial of the
Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine, ~0.75% of people in the placebo group
developed COVID-19 vs. only ~0.04% of people in the vaccine group.
(Reported efficacy for vaccines against other types of respiratory
illness such as the flu is only about 60-80%.) [8: For an
explanation of the clinical trials used to test the safety and
efficacy of vaccines, see
https://www.fda.gov/files/vaccines,%20blood%20&%20biologics/published/Ensuring-the-Safety-of-Vaccines-in-the-United-States.pdf.
For evidence concerning the efficacy and safety of these RNA
vaccines, see the references in the "More Information about the RNA
COVID-19 Vaccines" section on page 5 of the Student Handout.]
Current evidence suggests that the Moderna vaccine has about the
same effectiveness against the new, more contagious variant first
identified in the UK, but it will probably have significantly
reduced effectiveness against the new, more contagious variant
first identified in South Africa
(https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/25/moderna-vaccine-less-effective-variant/).
Moderna and other vaccine makers are already developing and testing
vaccines with increased effectiveness against the variants first
detected in South Africa and Brazil. (For more information about
these variants, see “Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19
Pandemic”,
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusOrigin.)
Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines require two
injections, separated by three or four weeks. Immunity develops
gradually during the weeks after the first and second doses, as
shown in the graphic below for the Pfizer vaccine. Notice that the
development of immunity after the first vaccine dose follows a time
course that is similar to the time course for the development of
immunity after an infection. Recent data indicate that a single
dose of these vaccines reduces the risk of COVID-19 by more than
90%, at least in the short term
(https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/946102). This result has led
some public health experts to advocate vaccinating more people with
a first dose and postpone the second dose until more vaccine doses
are available. The benefit has been a larger number of people with
substantial protection, but a risk could be that the coronavirus
might mutate to escape control by the vaccine
(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/briefing/atlanta-shootings-ncaa-mens-division-teen-vogue.html;
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/could-too-much-time-between-doses-drive-coronavirus-outwit-vaccines).
(https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55244122)
There are several reasons why the development, testing and
initial production were much faster for these RNA vaccines than for
previous vaccines
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/06/covid-vaccine-messenger-rna/).
· RNA vaccines are much easier and faster to produce than
conventional vaccines, which require cell cultures to produce
proteins or inactivated or weakened virus.
· Researchers had been working for decades to develop the
technology needed to produce RNA vaccines.
· In response to the pandemic, governments and businesses
invested a great deal of money to develop and test vaccines quickly
and simultaneously ramp up production of these vaccines.
The ability to rapidly develop and produce new RNA vaccines will
be very useful as vaccines need to be modified to increase their
effectiveness against new variants or strains of the coronavirus
that result from mutations and natural selection.
Some people worry that the rapid development of the vaccines
means that they may not be safe. However, the clinical trials have
confirmed the safety of these RNA vaccines during the time period
when most vaccine side effects usually occur. Because of the rapid
development, testing and production of these vaccines, we do not
yet have data concerning the long-term effects of these vaccines.
Follow-up of the clinical trials that established the effectiveness
and safety of these vaccines will provide more long-term data. RNA
vaccines are expected to be particularly safe because:
· RNA is rapidly broken down. (The fragility of RNA molecules is
the reason why the vaccines must be stored at very cold
temperatures.)
· RNA does not reach the nucleus and does not affect the
DNA.
· The RNA provides the instructions to make only one of the
proteins needed for the coronavirus, so there is no risk of
producing a coronavirus that could cause an infection.
Systematic follow-up of vaccination campaigns has begun to
identify very rare side effects that did not show up in the
clinical trials. For example, during the early public use of these
vaccines, a few people developed anaphylaxis (estimated frequency
roughly one case of anaphylaxis per 100,000 people vaccinated or
less). Anaphylaxis is usually effectively treated with prompt
injection of epinephrine; this is why vaccinated people should wait
at the vaccination location for up to half an hour after being
vaccinated
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-vaccine-allergic-reactions-study/2020/12/21/e01001d2-431a-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html;
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/945313).
Chemical signals from the adaptive immune system activate the
innate immune system and can stimulate fever and fatigue, which
some people experience as side effects for a day or two, especially
after the second dose of vaccine. Because large numbers of people
have been and will be vaccinated, there are bound to be unrelated
health problems that emerge after vaccination just due to
coincidence, similar to the health problems that emerged after
injection of the placebo in the clinical trials. This is the reason
why scientists distinguish between adverse events, which are any
health problems that happen after vaccination, and side effects,
which are adverse events that are caused by the vaccination. For
students who are concerned about the safety of these vaccines, you
may want to suggest the following resources.
· Five things you need to know about mRNA vaccine safety
(https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/five-things-you-need-know-about-mrna-vaccine-safety.html)
· What are the ingredients of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine?
(https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/09/1013538/what-are-the-ingredients-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine/)
· Fact check: RFID microchips will not be injected with the
COVID-19 vaccine, altered video features Bill and Melinda Gates and
Jack Ma
(https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-vaccine-microchip-gates-ma/fact-check-rfid-microchips-will-not-be-injected-with-the-covid-19-vaccine-altered-video-features-bill-and-melinda-gates-and-jack-ma-idUSKBN28E286)
For a supplementary illustrated guide to how RNA vaccines work,
see
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/a/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-rna-science-20210122.html.
For a more detailed explanation of how RNA vaccines work, you may
want to view:
· the ~3-minute video available at
https://www.cas.org/blog/covid-mrna-vaccine#:~:text=mRNA%20vaccines%20trigger%20the%20body's,antibody-mediated%20immunity%2C%20respectively
· the 16-minute video, “How does an mRNA vaccine work?”,
available at
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elz2-vwBhlY&fbclid=IwAR0e65NplkyXt1oe-wBYeI1T72zGQx92b5oGz_K2-8ioDHOWe2jiZZ8selected
and zS68; one error in this informative video is the speaker’s
failure to recognize that the vaccine is thawed before it is
injected)
An informative (although somewhat quirky) explanation of the
molecular biology of the RNA in the Pfizer vaccine is available at
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/.
Question 12 refers to another type of vaccine that contains the
coronavirus spike protein. An example is the Novavax vaccine; early
results indicate an efficacy of nearly 90% in Britain, but just
under 50% in South Africa where a new variant of the coronavirus is
common. The figure below shows the mechanism of action for vaccines
that contain protein antigens (including additional information
that is also relevant for understanding how RNA vaccines work).
The immune response following immunization with a conventional
protein antigen. The vaccine is injected into muscle and the
protein antigen is taken up by dendritic cells, which are activated
through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) by danger signals in
the adjuvant, and then trafficked to the draining lymph node. Here,
the presentation of peptides of the vaccine protein antigen by MHC
molecules on the dendritic cell activates T cells through their T
cell receptor (TCR). In combination with signalling (by soluble
antigen) through the B cell receptor (BCR), the T cells drive B
cell development in the lymph node. Here, the T cell-dependent B
cell development results in maturation of the antibody response to
increase antibody affinity and induce different antibody isotypes.
The production of short-lived plasma cells, which actively secrete
antibodies specific for the vaccine protein, produces a rapid rise
in serum antibody levels over the next 2 weeks. Memory B cells are
also produced, which mediate immune memory. Long-lived plasma cells
that can continue to produce antibodies for decades travel to
reside in bone marrow niches. CD8+ memory T cells can
proliferate rapidly when they encounter a pathogen, and
CD8+ effector T cells are important for the elimination of
infected cells.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-00479-7)
As of March 24, 2021, the other vaccine that has been approved
for use in the US is made by Johnson & Johnson. This vaccine
uses an inactivated adenovirus to carry DNA with the gene for the
spike protein into the nucleus of cells, where mRNA for the spike
protein is produced. [footnoteRef:9] Advantages of the Johnson
& Johnson vaccine are that only a single dose is needed and
freezer storage is not needed. Although the efficacy of this
single-dose vaccine may be lower than the RNA vaccines for
preventing mild and moderate COVID-19, this vaccine is highly
effective in preventing severe disease, both in the US and in South
Africa where a variant that can evade immune defenses against the
original strain of the coronavirus has been spreading
(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/health/covid-vaccine-johnson-and-johnson.html,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/02/24/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine/).[footnoteRef:10]
[9: Two similar vaccines that have provided reasonably complete
results from phase 3 clinical trials are produced by AstraZeneca
and Gamaleya (in Russia). (For more information on the AstraZeneca
vaccine, see
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/world/covid-astrazeneca-vaccine.html
and
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/astrazeneca-oxford-vaccine-concerns/2021/03/23/2f931d34-8bc3-11eb-a33e-da28941cb9ac_story.html;
for information on the Russian vaccine, see
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/gamaleya-covid-19-vaccine.html
and https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55900622.)] [10: Johnson &
Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, and Novavax have each begun
work on vaccines that will be more effective against the variants
first identified in South Africa and in Brazil, in case they are
needed
(https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/947626?src=mkm_covid_update_210318_MSCPEDIT&uac=49468FT&impID=3257587&faf=1).]
If you would like to learn more about how vaccines work, how
they are developed, and related issues, I recommend:
· the sources listed on page 5 of the Student Handout
· “How nine Covid-19 vaccines work”
(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/how-covid-19-vaccines-work.html)
· “A guide to vaccinology: from basic principles to new
developments”
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-00479-7)
· Innovators target vaccines for variants and shortages in
global South
(https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-021-00001-x)
Question 15 will draw students’ attention to the reasons why
mask wearing, distancing and other prevention measures will
continue to be needed, at least during the first half of 2021 and
probably longer. You can also show your students the figure below,
which conveys the basic point that no single type of prevention is
foolproof, so multiple preventive actions have the best chance to
stop the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point, we need a combination of
vaccination, public health measures, and individual responsibility
to effectively slow the spread of the coronavirus. However, the CDC
has said that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can
safely gather unmasked and inside with other fully vaccinated
people or with unvaccinated people from a single household who are
at low risk for severe COVID-19
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html).
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.html)
There are several ways you could pursue any unanswered questions
from your class discussions and the questions that students write
in response to question 16.
· You could have the students research their questions
informally, and you could also provide information from these
Teacher Notes and/or other sources.
· You could have students work in pairs or small groups to
prepare a report (including a poster) and then present their
results to their classmates, who will be encouraged to ask
thoughtful questions. Class reports with discussion are useful for
(1) sharing information, reinforcing learning, and clarifying
important points, and (2) motivating students to develop a good
understanding of the topic they are researching since they will
need to be prepared to answer questions from their classmates and
teacher.
· You could use the following steps to carry out a jigsaw
activity using several related articles.[footnoteRef:11] [11: These
instructions are adapted
from https://www.nsta.org/science-teacher/science-teacher-march-2020/novel-coronavirus.]
1. Tell your class that they will read one article in their
small group, summarize the main conclusions and evidence, and then
share this information with a group of students who have read other
articles.
2. As students complete the reading individually, each of them
should prepare a summary and possibly annotate the article.
3. Have students who read the same article briefly share their
findings with one another and discuss the article. This will help
students prepare to briefly summarize their article in the mixed
group.
4. Regroup students so that one representative from each source
is in each group. Ask students to briefly summarize their articles
in their new groups. When sharing the summaries, students should
make connections to what they have heard in the other students’
summaries. They should talk through anything that is unclear or
seems inconsistent from one source to the next. Students should
take notes during this sharing, listening, and discussion
process.
5. Have a whole class discussion of the main takeaways from the
jigsaw readings. Ask students what questions they are still
wondering about and try to follow up.
· You could have students work individually or in pairs to
prepare a brief written report. One problem we have encountered is
that students often copy information from their sources without
understanding the material and putting it in their own words.
Helpful guidance on this issue and the appropriate use of
quotations is available at
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/index.html. For
example, an earlier version of this source recommended these steps
to help students put information in their own words:
1. Reread the original source until you understand its full
meaning.
2. Set the original aside and write down the main points you
want to include from this source.
3. Check your version with the original to make sure that your
version accurately expresses the essential information in a new
form. Use quotation marks to identify any unique phrases you have
borrowed exactly from the source.
4. Record the source (including the page) so you can credit it
easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your
paper.
The recommended reliable sources listed on page 5 of the Student
Handout provide information about how vaccines are developed and
tested, additional information about the RNA vaccines, and
information about other types of vaccines that are being developed.
The development and testing of COVID-19 vaccines is producing new
results every week. As of the beginning of 2021, other types of
vaccines have been approved for use in other countries. All of
these vaccines work by stimulating the production of memory cells,
and many use the coronavirus spike protein as the vaccine’s
antigen. For regularly updated information, you and your students
can use the Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker at
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
(the last recommended source in the Student Handout), plus the
following sources of reliable information.
· Coronavirus
(COVID-19) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html)
· Science
(https://www.sciencenews.org/editors-picks/2019-novel-coronavirus-outbreak)
· New York Times
(https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus)
· FAS COVID-19 – Ask a Scientist (https://covid19.fas.org/)
If your students use other sources, you may want to have them
first read “Evaluating Internet Research Sources”
(http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm) and “Evaluating Internet
Resources”
(http://www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content).
Also, you may want to encourage your students to use online
dictionaries or searches to find the meaning of any unfamiliar
technical terms.
Sources for Student Handout Figures
· Figure of coronavirus with antibodies, adapted from
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01816-5
· Figure of immune response to coronavirus infection, adapted
from
https://www.thevaccinemom.com/2019/10/the-immune-system-in-a-nutshell/
· Figure with antibody graphs, adapted from
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~rbrundage/chapter12b/sld016.htm
· Figure of cytotoxic T cell, adapted from
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d8/33/a1/d833a1b64f4500860fc804d8ea153b0b.jpg
· Figure of RNA vaccine effects, adapted from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/17/covid-vaccines-what-you-need-to-know/?arc404=true
· Figure of exponential growth of coronavirus population,
adapted from
https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/B3-GL119_CHENG0_D_20200402114558.jpg
Related Activities
Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusOrigin
To begin this analysis and discussion activity, students explore
two hypotheses about the origins of the new coronavirus that is
causing the COVID-19 pandemic. First, students learn how mutations
and natural selection can produce a spillover infection. Then,
students use molecular evidence to evaluate the hypothesis that
scientists used genetic engineering to produce the new coronavirus.
Next, students analyze the contributions of mutation and natural
selection to the development of the new coronavirus variants that
are more contagious and/or can evade immune defenses. Finally,
students propose policies to reduce the risk that even more
dangerous variants could develop in the future.
Changing Recommendations about How to Reduce Your Risk of
Coronavirus Infection – What is the evidence?
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirusprev
In this analysis and discussion activity, students learn about
the scientific basis of recommendations to reduce the spread of
coronavirus infections. They analyze how changes in the
recommendations resulted from new research findings about the
behaviors and situations that increase or decrease the risk of
coronavirus infection.
Resources for Teaching about Coronavirus
https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/coronavirus
This webpage has compiled information about learning activities
and other resources for teaching high school biology students about
the coronavirus and COVID-19.
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