Module 6: The Virus
The Story...
As Tash continues his quarantine following his testing positive for COVID-19, he receives a follow-up phone call from the Department of Public Health, a contact tracer, and his primary care physician. Though his symptoms remain relatively mild, he understands that not everyone his age has such a mild case. June, one of his best friends from school told him a story about a family friend she knows who contracted the virus at a nursing home. What happens to your body when you contract the coronavirus? Why is there such a variation in severity between cases?
Performance Expectations
- Find evidence to support a claim that a virus is either “alive” or “not alive.”
- Construct an explanation of how the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters a host cell and how specificity plays a role in host cell recognition.
- Apply scientific ideas and evidence for the role of the Central Dogma in viral replication.
- Explain the specifics of how the SARS-CoV-2 virus takes over a host cell in order to replicate and make many copies of itself.
- Connect how mutation plays a role in viral evolution and how this plays affects the ability of a virus to infect its host.
- Distinguish between the symptoms of COVID-19 and the potential complications that accompany a severe case.
- Investigate lung function and how ventilators help people breathe if they have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19.
- Relate how inflammation is associated with COVID-19 and case severity.
- Differentiate case severity associated with preexisting conditions and demographics.
Module 6 Challenges
Learning Targets:
- I can use the criteria for living things to classify an entity as “alive.”
- I can use scientific evidence to argue whether a virus is alive or not.
- Learning Targets:
- I can explain how the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters a host cell and how specificity plays a role in host cell recognition.
- Learning Targets:
- I can discuss the role of the Central Dogma in viral replication.
- I can describe the specifics of how the SARS-CoV-2 virus takes over a host cell in order to replicate and make many copies of itself.
Learning Targets:
- I can describe relationships between mutations and viral evolution.
- I can provide evidence for how viral evolution affects the ability of a virus to infect its host.
Learning Targets:
- I can make and use a model demonstrating lung function.
- I can explain how ventilators help people breathe if they have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19.
Learning Targets:
- I can explain how inflammation is associated with COVID-19 and case severity.
- I can discern the differences in case severity that are associated with preexisting conditions and demographics.