Histology and Cancer
                                                                    By:  Sarah Kapenga

Project at a Glance :

Anatomy students will serve the needs of children’s hospital patients by creating educational materials that can be used after a diagnosis.
       
Driving Question:

How can we as experienced histologists, create an engaging teaching tool to explain a scary diagnosis and hopeful treatment plan?             

Standards:

• S4S:  Communication
• Anatomy Standard: Explain how form fits function for the four groups of tissue that make up the human body.

Team / Culture Building:

• Students engaged in the Creative Sequence protocol to determine the groups strengths and weaknesses.​​

• Hopes, Fears, & Norms

Entry Event:

• Students interviewed (via Zoom) a parent of a child diagnosed with cancer to discuss the need for kid friendly materials on the topic of cancer.

Stakeholders:

• Kids ages 6-18
• Zeeland Hosptital HR director
• Families who need pertinent medical information to make decisions about next steps.
• Meredith Schrotenboer - Lead Communications Specialist at Corewell's Zeeland Hospital

Empathy Building:

• Students created Empathy Maps​

Inquiry / Need to Knows:​​

• The 5 WHYS protocol helped students understand the importance of the project.
• Students participated in a vocabulary game (similar to Whack a Mole) to gain a better understanding of key words and phrases.​
• Pains and Gains
• Speedboat

Incubation:

• Idea Quota
• Group and Saturate
• Anti-problem protocol​

• Rule of Thirds

Checking in:

• Students communicated  with Meredith Schrotenboer at Zeeland Hospital as needed for feedback. 
• Students participated in Elevator Pitches to get feedback from peers and teacher. 
• Rip, Slap, Pass- Students will work silently to generate ideas as a group.

• Talking Chips

---

Solution Building:

• After students have generated solution ideas and organized them they will use  Dot Voting and the $100 Test to narrow ideas down.

Critique and Revision: 

• Using the $100 Test results combined with a Critical Friends protocol in which Meredith and Zeeland Hospital representatives provide feedback.
• Critical Friends with peers - Students will each have a timer at their station to ensure that equal air time is given. 

Authentic Audience:

• Meredith Schrotenboer and other HR staff at Zeeland Hospital will hear the final pitches and award the winners
  

Final Presentation:

• Students submit all tangibles to the staff at Zeeland Hospital ahead of time through Google slides so that the staff has time to look over their products
• An explanation as well as any Question and Answer from the hospital staff will be done over Zoom.
• Students will have a blank canvas for their design.  They can choose any medium and age group/developmental level to focus on. 

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Pluses and Deltas
• Talking Chips​

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:

Sarah Kapenga teaches Biology, Anatomy, and Intro to Education at Hamilton High School.

      "I like providing students with the freedom and responsibility to brainstorm a solution while unintentionally learning the content I have them."