Subject taught
- Biology

Link
https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/diagnosis-and-treatment/stem-cell-transplant/?region=qc

Type of Product
- Web Site/Portal

Language Skills Developed
- Reading

Transferable/Scientific Skills Developed
Understand how stem cell transplantation is a life-saving therapy for many blood conditions, how it works and what types of transplantation take place.

Description
General aims
The objective of this resource, in addition to improving language skills and specific scientific knowledge, is to sensitize young people to the donation of bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cells.
Choosing to become a donor is a gesture of great solidarity and generosity that can save a life. Compatibility among non
consanguineous relatives is rare, only 1 in 100,000 donors is 100% compatible with those awaiting transplantation, which is why young people must understand that by increasing the number of possible donors the probability of finding the suitable, compatible donor is increased.

Linguistic aims
• Improving language skills in L2
• Enriching scientific vocabulary
• Knowing how to move from one linguistic register to another
• Producing clear and coherent texts in L2
• Summarizing written texts
Subject specific aims
• Understand what hematopoietic stem cells are;
• what are their sources;
• what their transplant consists of;
• when it is carried out;
• what is the difference between allogeneic transplantation, autologous transplantation and syngeneic transplantation

Target group age
15-16 years

Level of competence in English (CEFR)
B1

Time required to use the resource with the students
3 h 2h resource analysis
1h comparison and discussion

How to use it
After presenting the resource, the teacher divides the class into small groups, each of which must analyze, study it independently and integrate it with personal research.
The students must also make a list of all the scientific terms present in the resource and know how to contextualize them in a written and oral production.
Inside the individual groups, students will have to discuss both the topic and the linguistic difficulties that have emerged and
possibly the understanding of the concepts.
In this way, students acquire greater security and awareness and are ready to face the confrontation with other groups.
The discussion between the various groups starts with a brainstorming introduced by stimulus questions: why is transplantation important? What pathologies can it cure? Would
you do it? Why yes? Why not? Etc.
The work carried out will then be included in the final one which will concern the entire learning unit. It can be produced in Power Point, through video, audio interviews, animations, in this way digital skills are further favored
Possible difficulties for the students
Comparison in vehicle language

Comments
Strength/Weakness The resource is very clear and its analysis does not present particular difficulties Scientific reliability The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is a national organization that works to defeat cancer and improve the quality of life of sick people. It invests heavily in research and prevention. Pedagogical value Cooperative Learning, Flipped class room and brainstorming are mainly used With Cooperative Learning students work together in small groups to achieve common goals, try to improve each other's learning, learn to confront and respect the ideas of others. In cooperative learning groups, students are therefore more motivated than traditional group work, they dedicate themselves with greater pleasure to common activity and become protagonists and architects of their own knowledge. The Flipped classroom has the advantage of saving a lot of time in the classroom because the students study at home before taking lessons. The role of the teacher is to "guide", encourage, support students in personal research, collaboration, sharing and comparison of knowledge, but must pay close attention to the personal resources selected by the students. Therefore, at home, other videos and other e-learnig resources are widely used, while in the classroom students experiment, collaborate, carry out laboratory activities and start discussions with each other to clarify and discuss the concepts learned independently. In this way, the student "learns to learn" and becomes an "active" person in his learning process. Finally, brainstorming is fundamental for this type of activity because it stimulates and encourages children's thinking. Furthermore, with this methodology students expressing themselves freely, without any kind of constraint, learn to overcome anxieties and fears and acquire greater self-confidence.

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