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PLTW Biomedical Science Overview & Course Information

PROJECT LEAD THE WAY BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE
Working with the same equipment and tools used by lab professionals, PLTW Biomedical Science students are empowered to explore and find solutions to some of today’s most pressing medical challenges. Through scaffolded activities that connect learning to life, students step into the roles of biomedical science professionals and investigate topics including human medicine, physiology, genetics, microbiology, and public health. Students work together in teams to find unique solutions, and in the process, learn in-demand, transferable skills like critical thinking and communication.
 
 

COURSE OFFERINGS

Principles of Biomedical Science - PBS

In this course, students explore concepts of biology and medicine as they take on the roles of different medical professionals to solve real-world problems. Throughout this course, students are challenged in various scenarios including investigating a crime scene to solve a mystery, diagnosing and proposing treatment to patients in a family medical practice, tracking down and containing a medical outbreak at a local hospital, stabilizing a patient during an emergency, and collaborating with others to design solutions to local and global medical problems.

Standards 

Human Body Systems - HBS

Students examine the interactions of human body systems as they explore identity, power, movement, protection, and homeostasis in the body. Exploring science in action, students build organs and tissues on a skeletal Maniken®; use data acquisition software to monitor body functions such as muscle movement, reflex and voluntary action, and respiration; and take on the roles of biomedical professionals to solve real-world medical cases. 

Standards 

Medical Interventions (MI)

Medical Interventions (MI) allows students to investigate the variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease as they follow the lives of a fictitious family. A “How-To” manual for maintaining overall health and homeostasis in the body, the course will explore how to prevent and fight infection, how to screen and evaluate the code in our DNA, how to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer, and how to prevail when the organs of the body begin to fail. Through these scenarios, students will be exposed to a wide range of interventions related to immunology, surgery, genetics, pharmacology, medical devices, and diagnostics. Each family case scenario will introduce multiple types of interventions, reinforce concepts learned in the previous two courses, and present new content. Interventions may range from simple diagnostic tests to treatment of complex diseases and disorders. These interventions will be showcased across the generations of the family and will provide a look at the past, present, and future of biomedical science. Lifestyle choices and preventive measures are emphasized throughout the course, as well as the important role that scientific thinking and engineering design play in the development of interventions of the future. 

Standards

BIOMEDICAL INNOVATION

In the Biomedical Innovation course, students will be asked to apply what they have learned in the previous three courses to solve unique problems in science, medicine, and healthcare. Students will work systematically through required problems before completing optional directed problems or independent work. Each problem is staged as a mission – a unique set of tasks the students must work through to achieve their desired objective. Students are presented with each problem in a Mission File – a document that includes a case brief, a list of completion tasks, links to available resources, as well as a reflection section. Working through the missions not only exposes students to current issues in biomedical science, but it also provides skills-based instruction in research and experimentation – tools students will use to design innovative solutions to real-world problems. Students will use what they learn in these missions as they develop and implement their independent project at the end of the year.

Standards

CERTIFICATIONS