Academic and Technical Education Connection

INTEGRATING ACADEMIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION:
BIOLOGY/BIOTECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM UNITS

Independent Research Topics

Introduction
Suggested Topics for Research

STUDENT BOOK
MICROBE DETECTIVES:
SOLVING A MEDICAL MYSTERY

SECTION V
Independent Projects: Using What You Have Learned

Prologue
Now that you have figured out how to determine the cause of and the body's reaction to the Salmonella outbreak, you can conduct research related to the investigation on your own. In this final section you will carry out your own research and make a presentation on a topic of interest related to the science concepts and techniques you have learned.

We encourage you to explore, hypothesize, investigate, gather information and data, and be creative. You may work by yourself, with a partner, or as part of a small group. (Working with others allows you to share the work of a larger project and simulate how professionals often work on projects.)

You can refer to the notes you have taken throughout the unit to help you decide what you want to investigate, and how you want to do it.

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Suggested Topics for Independent Research

Investigate Salmonella, including ideas such as what it is, symptoms of the disease, who is at risk, how it is transmitted, how it canbe treated or prevented, an historical and/or geographical study of its development, the biochemical description of the disease, etc.
Examine the role of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food inspection agency, including the role they play in inspecting, regulating, and certifying food processing facilities, pathogen detection and reduction, applying sanctions to facilities in non-conformance with regulations, and public information provision.
Study the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in tracking outbreaks and epidemics of communicable diseases, identifying sources and patterns of contamination, stopping the spread of disease, preventing the spread of disease, educating the public about health and safety issues.
Examine an ethical issue related to conducting research with animal or human subjects, working with pathogenic materials, using drugs or other treatments to prevent or cure diseases, working with recombinant DNA, storing individuals' DNA in databases to keep track of them, or other issues related to the subject matter in the unit.
Pretend you are an epidemiologist writing an article for a science journal about an outbreak you have investigated. Include at least 12 scientific terms, explain your hypothesis for the outbreak, and how your department investigated the outbreak and resolved it.
Conduct a "mock interview" with each of the major characters in the two newspaper articles to obtain their accounts of the story in order to collect comprehensive information to trace the origins of the outbreak, the spread and course of the disease, the effects of it on various people and the community, and other information to write a final report/news story about the outbreak.
Develop a booklet that describes various occupations, workplaces, and career paths in the field of biology and/or biotechnology, and include information about the education and training required to be employed in these areas.
Choose any reading from the unit and conduct further research on the topic. Explain what your interests in doing this are, and present your findings.
Explore the use of DNA in forensics to identify victims, criminals, and biological relationships. Examine how it is done and the impact of this use of DNA in history (such as the identification of Thomas Jefferson as the father of his slave's children), criminal justice (identification of criminals), and other areas.
Trace the history of the treatment and prevention of a particular disease-such as hepatitis, diphtheria, smallpox, rabies, malaria, or other diseases-and explain why methods of stopping the spread of the disease succeeded or failed. Include in your analysis how people dealt with conditions of environment, culture and human behavior, migration of people, the nature of disease transmission, sanitation, and other influences.
Focus on one of the researchers who made one of the many significant discoveries discussed in the unit. Examine the events leading up to the researcher's finding, take an in-depth look at the experiment, the public's reaction, and it's impact on science throughout history.
Use resource materials to obtain information about one or more occupations, careers, workplaces, and roles people play in work related to identifying, analyzing, preventing, treating, and educating about disease, such as that in the story line of the unit. organize and present this information.
Conduct an experiment using different types of cleaning agents (including those claiming to be "antibacterial") to test the relative effectiveness of these products in killing bacteria. Write a protocol and record all steps of the experiment in your laboratory notebook.
Choose any lab investigation in the unit and repeat it or vary it. Explain your goals, your hypothesis, method, observations, and conclusions in your laboratory notebook.
Design an experiment that would demonstrate outcomes similar to one of the investigations you have conducted in class. Write the protocols, carry out the experiment, record and present its results.
Collect samples from publicly used areas (like the boys & girls bathrooms) and test/compare the existence of bacteria.
Build a detailed model of a DNA double helix; use different materials than the ones you used in Section II. Label every part of the model.
Study an existing protocol for experiment. Design a protocol and list materials, equipment required to conduct a lab investigation that you create.

* Ask your teacher or another resource person to help you assemble the equipment and materials in your school that you will need to conduct a particular experiment. Write a list of the equipment and materials you will need. If materials include things from local stores (e.g., a piece of raw chicken, an egg, fruit, yeast, hand-washing and antibacterial agents, arrange with your teacher how to buy and pay for them).
Plan and conduct an interview of a person in your community who is in an occupation and/or work setting in which they are performing work similar to that which you have done or studied in this unit (see Research Methodology section for interview preparation ideas).
Plan and conduct a survey, to be mailed or used in a telephone interview, that will obtain information from a number of people in occupations and/or work sites in which work similar to that which you have conducted or studied in this unit (see Research methodology section for survey preparation and administration ideas).
Plan and make arrangements to shadow one or more people doing work similar to that which you performed or studied in the unit, to learn first-hand what they do during a workday. Prepare a presentation of the information you obtain from your observations.
Arrange for a guest speaker to visit your class to talk about his/her work related to what you have studied in the unit. Discuss with the speaker what topics you would like him or her to address (what they do, what setting they work in, what they studied to prepare for this work, etc.) issues related to their work and their academic and experiential preparation for it (see Research Methodology section for ideas about how to do this).
Arrange for a guest speaker to visit your class to present and lead a discussion about an issue or ethical dilemma related to what you have studied in the unit, that he or she has encountered in their work. Help the guest prepare for leading the discussion by giving information about the class, the unit, and other helpful information.
Plan a field trip for your class, or a group of students, to visit a local work site in which some of the work you have done in class is being carried out in the "real world". Contact the appropriate people at the site and make the required arrangements for visiting the site, observing and meeting people working there, and learning about that work.

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