Your Weeks Work packet
The packet tells this week's story day by day, explains every term on labeled reference pages, and lists each task with its deadline. Open it before you start today's work. The mind map shows how the whole unit fits together, with the tested ideas in red. Your Unit 1 Take-Home Exam is handed out Friday, October 2 and due Monday, October 5 at the start of class. It replaces the in-class Unit 1 Test printed in the packet, so ignore the packet's 40-minute and pencil instructions for the test.
JCU bioethics 2: Should we ban antibiotic use in livestock?
This page has four parts, in the order you use them. Part 1 is what you need to know. Part 2 says what to do, in plain English. Part 3 shows the work done once on a case that is not yours. Part 4 is your own work and where to turn it in.
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Argue an assigned side of this question: Should we ban antibiotic use in livestock?
Part 1 of 4 · Background and definitions▸
💡 Big idea: Should we ban use in livestock?
- • An isolated mountain valley has clear streams and no industry. A bacterial outbreak hits the local livestock, so the community treats the herds with a large course of antibiotics. Weeks later, researchers find traces in the stream water, a shifted bacterial population, and new genes.
- • The case for: Even low concentrations of antibiotics apply selective pressure, favoring resistant strains and spreading resistance genes through the environment and into the food chain.
- • The case against: Antibiotics do degrade in the environment through biodegradation, hydrolysis and photolysis, at rates that depend on pH, temperature and sunlight.
A wider clear zone means this organism is inhibited at a lower concentration of that same drug, but zone width cannot rank one drug against another, because each diffuses through agar at its own rate and each has its own breakpoint.
Should we ban use in livestock?
Driving question: Your assigned side was sent through Jupiter before the debate. After preparing both sides, which can you make stronger by the end of the block: for the ban, or against the ban?
What you already know: A wider clear zone means this organism is inhibited at a lower concentration of that same drug, but zone width cannot rank one drug against another, because each diffuses through agar at its own rate and each has its own breakpoint.
New idea: Should we ban use in livestock?
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in today's lesson.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: Your assigned side was sent through Jupiter before the debate. After preparing both sides, which can you make stronger by the end of the block: for the ban, or against the ban?
What the evidence supports: E1 to E3 and the figure support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • bioethics: The study of what we should and should not do in medicine and research, weighing benefit, risk, consent, and fairness.
- • autonomy: A patient's right to make their own informed decisions about their care, a core principle of bioethics and one of the hardest to honor.
- • beneficence: The bioethics principle of acting to benefit the patient and promote their well-being, weighing likely good against possible harm.
- • nonmaleficence: The bioethics principle of not causing harm. It asks you to weigh what a treatment could cost the patient against what it could gain them, and to hold back when the harm outweighs the help.
- • justice: In bioethics, the principle that benefits, risks and costs are shared fairly, so that who a patient is does not decide the care they are offered. It is about who gets what, and why.
- • : Agreeing to a treatment or study only after truly understanding its purpose, risks, benefits, and alternatives; the understanding, not the signature, is the ethics.
- • confidentiality: The duty to keep what a patient tells you, and what their record holds, private. It is shared only with the people treating them, or with anyone the patient names.
- • stakeholder: Any person or group affected by a project or decision, such as users, patients, families, or the team building a solution.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice. This is thinking practice for the one turn-in named under Turn in, not a second submission.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
A defensible biomedical decision separates scientific evidence from value judgments, identifies who may benefit or be burdened, and states the uncertainty and tradeoffs that remain.
Limit: Scientific evidence can inform the options and likely consequences, but it cannot choose a single value-neutral answer.
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
Limit: A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
You can argue a position you were assigned rather than one you chose.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
Today's decision · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: medical interventions team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on today's page.
- • Assume antibiotics in animals are obviously wrong because antibiotics are medicine for people, then stop looking.
- • You cannot settle it yet: you need to know how much of the survives in the environment and for how long.
- • Argue from where resistance genes actually go, since the ban question is about whether environmental release reaches human pathogens.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Use it inside the one turn-in named under Turn in; it is not a separate submission.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on today's page.
Context: A position you cannot argue against is a position you do not yet hold, you have only inherited it. The test of your view is whether you can state the other side's best case in a form its holders would accept.
- • T1: Bring your preparation assignment. It is the strongest evidence you will carry into the room. If you do not have it, tell Mr. Mendoza before the session starts. You still argue and you still write: the scenario is read aloud at the start, and this page gives you the first argument on each side.
- • T2: Your side is assigned before the debate and sent through Jupiter. Prepare both sides so you can defend yours and answer the strongest opposing argument. You may be arguing the side you disagree with.
- • T3: Open with the icebreaker: Do you have a favorite number? What is it, and why?
- • T4: Read the scenario together, then take five minutes with your side to pick your three strongest arguments and decide who leads.
- • T5: Argue. Every claim needs a reason, and a reason someone else could check.
- • T6: Answer the other side's strongest point directly. Restating your own point is not a rebuttal.
- • E1: A defensible biomedical decision separates scientific evidence from value judgments, identifies who may benefit or be burdened, and states the uncertainty and tradeoffs that remain.
- • E2: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- • E3: You can argue a position you were assigned rather than one you chose.
Measurements: No patient measurement is supplied unless it appears explicitly in E1-E3 or F1. Do not invent a value.
Figure finding: Five boxes mapping the John Carroll worksheet: the side I argued, my three strongest arguments with three numbered lines, the opposing point I had to answer, the answer to that point, where I actually stand now, and a dashed strip for the distinction this session turns on, in my own words.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in JCU bioethics 2: Should we ban antibiotic use in livestock?. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Part 2 of 4 · Directions in plain English▸
2.1 Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
Practice zone record (made-up practice data, not a class plate)
Use this only if you missed the plate reading
| Disk | Drug label | Zone of inhibition (mm) | What the reader saw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drug W | 22 | Clear circle, sharp edge |
| 2 | Drug X | 6 | Growth right up to the disk edge |
| 3 | Drug Y | 15 | Clear circle, sharp edge |
| 4 | Drug Z | 11 | Clear circle, sharp edge |
- A practice plate of Practice Organism P with four antibiotic disks, each 6 mm across. Each zone was measured edge to edge through the center of the disk, disk included.
- Copy the four zones into your table, rank the zones by size, and write "practice data" at the top of the table page.
Reading rules
- The zone-size chart has no row for Practice Organism P, so write "no cutoff for this organism" and rank by zone size only.
- Rank the zones, not the drugs: two different drugs cannot be compared by zone size, because disk loads and diffusion differ.
2.2 Start the work
Bring your preparation assignment. It is the strongest evidence you will carry into the room. If you do not have it, tell Mr. Mendoza before the session starts. You still argue and you still write: the scenario is read aloud at the start, and this page gives you the first argument on each side.
Show all 9 required steps
- Bring your preparation assignment. It is the strongest evidence you will carry into the room. If you do not have it, tell Mr. Mendoza before the session starts. You still argue and you still write: the scenario is read aloud at the start, and this page gives you the first argument on each side.
- Your side is assigned before the debate and sent through Jupiter. Prepare both sides so you can defend yours and answer the strongest opposing argument. You may be arguing the side you disagree with.
- Open with the icebreaker: Do you have a favorite number? What is it, and why?
- Read the scenario together, then take five minutes with your side to pick your three strongest arguments and decide who leads.
- Argue. Every claim needs a reason, and a reason someone else could check.
- Answer the other side's strongest point directly. Restating your own point is not a rebuttal.
- Close by writing where you actually stand now, and what moved you.
- Upload one PDF to the Schoology assignment Wk6 CER: JCU bioethics 2, should we prohibit antibiotic use in livestock? by the end of class today. The PDF holds your debate worksheet, with your finished disk-diffusion zone table as its last page. That is the only upload today. Absent? Do the same: fill in the worksheet from the scenario on this page, use the practice zone record in Part 2 of this page for the table page and write "practice data" at its top, and upload one PDF to that assignment.
- Right after the debate (minutes 40 to 50): read the disk-diffusion plate you set up last class, which has incubated since Wednesday, through the taped lid (never open it), measure each zone of inhibition in millimeters, and finish your data table. Put the finished table on the last page of your debate worksheet PDF; it is not a separate upload.
Lost your place? Find the side you were assigned and your three strongest arguments. If you have those, move to the rebuttal: what is the other side's best point, and what is your answer to it?
- 0-5 minScenario read together; teams take their tables
- 5-22 minFacilitated debate, John Carroll leading
- 22-33 minRebuttals: answer the other side's strongest point, not its weakest
- 33-40 minWrite where you now stand and what moved you on the worksheet
- 40-50 minRead your disk-diffusion plate through the taped lid; measure each zone in millimeters and finish the
- 50-80 minPLTW work for this unit; add the finished zone table as the last page of the worksheet and upload the one PDF before the end of class
- • John Carroll has the first half of the block, about 40 minutes. The second half is PLTW work for this unit.
- • You know your side before you walk in. Build your case in depth, and come ready to answer the other side's strongest point rather than its weakest.
- • A debate is not a fight to win. It is a way of finding out which argument actually survives contact with the other one.
- • Exit goal: you can state the best case against your own position, and say what you would need to change your mind.
PLTW connection and today's work
Bring your preparation assignment and use it. John Carroll runs the first 40 minutes, and you already know your side, so come with your case built and an answer to theirs. For the second half of the block, continue Activity 1.2.1 Antibiotic Therapy in myPLTW, picking up where last class stopped.
Today's stopping point: The debate is the first 40 minutes. You are finished with it when you have written where you stand now and what moved you. The rest of the block is Activity 1.2.1 Antibiotic Therapy.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- John Carroll facilitates the first 40 minutes. Bring your preparation assignment; it is your evidence. The rest of the block is PLTW work for this unit.
Use the turn-in directions in Part 4 of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Part 3 of 4 · Worked example▸
This is a parallel case, not your own. Read it for the order of the work, then do your own in Part 4.
Parallel case, not today's prompt: A county is considering a seasonal ban on phosphorus lawn fertilizer near a lake where repeated algal blooms have lowered oxygen and killed fish.
Claim: The county should restrict phosphorus fertilizer during the high-runoff season while allowing documented exceptions for newly planted lawns.
Evidence: Runoff carries soluble phosphorus into the lake, algae use that nutrient to grow rapidly, and decomposition of the bloom consumes dissolved oxygen needed by fish. Water samples after heavy rain show the highest phosphorus levels near dense residential lawns.
Reasoning: The restriction targets the mechanism that links the human practice to the environmental harm. A narrow exception preserves legitimate use while preventing routine application when runoff risk is highest.
Strongest opposing point and response: Homeowners may argue that the rule limits normal property care. Phosphorus-free products remain available, and the exception allows use when a soil or planting need is documented, so the rule reduces harm without banning all lawn care.
My position after the debate: I support the claim only with the limits named above. A strong ethics argument states the value being protected, uses evidence rather than preference, answers the best counterargument, and names the condition that could change the decision.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A complete debate worksheet that names the assigned side, gives three evidence-based arguments, answers the strongest opposing point, and ends with the student's own position.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit one debate worksheet PDF in Schoology before the end of the block.
A review board sorts scientific evidence, stakeholder needs, possible benefits, possible burdens, and uncertainty before choosing a policy.
- Which statements are scientific evidence?
- Which statements express a value or priority?
- Who receives the benefit and who carries the burden?
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
- • Evidence cards map to source-backed findings.
- • Stakeholder cards map to affected people and priorities.
- • The recommendation maps to an explicit tradeoff with a named uncertainty.
Part 4 of 4 · Your work▸
Check your work before submitting
- You can argue a position you were assigned rather than one you chose.
- You can state the strongest argument against your own side and answer it.
- You can separate what the evidence shows from what you believe about it.
4.1 Turn in your work
DueCheck the Schoology assignment for this day- Hand in
- Your worksheet: the side you argued, your three strongest arguments, the opposing point you had to answer, and where you actually stand now. Last page: your finished disk-diffusion data table, with each zone of inhibition in millimeters and the zones ranked by size.
How to submit and name your file
Upload one PDF to the Schoology assignment Wk6 CER: JCU bioethics 2, should we prohibit antibiotic use in livestock? by the end of class today. The PDF holds your debate worksheet, with your finished disk-diffusion zone table as its last page. That is the only upload today. Absent? Do the same: fill in the worksheet from the scenario on this page, use the practice zone record in Part 2 of this page for the table page and write "practice data" at its top, and upload one PDF to that assignment.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Find this lesson's Schoology assignments
These are existing assignments for your section. Follow the directions in the assignment you are working on; this list does not add new work. A PLTW Work row repeats on every day of its lesson; submit it once. Check Schoology for each deadline.
- Wk6 CER: JCU bioethics 2, should we prohibit antibiotic use in livestock?(the JCU bioethics CER)
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your course and section, and find the title shown above.
- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: A wider clear zone means this organism is inhibited at a lower concentration of that same drug, but zone width cannot rank one drug against another, because each antibiotic diffuses through agar at its own rate and each has its own breakpoint. Today: Should we ban antibiotic use in livestock?
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Practice an exam-style question on the worked-example page, which includes the answer and rationale.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Upload one PDF to the Schoology assignment Wk6 CER: JCU bioethics 2, should we prohibit use in livestock? by the end of class today. The PDF holds your debate worksheet, with your finished disk-diffusion zone table as its last page. That is the only upload today. Absent? Do the same: fill in the worksheet from the scenario on this page, use the practice zone record in Part 2 of this page for the table page and write "practice data" at its top, and upload one PDF to that assignment.
Upload one PDF to the Schoology assignment Wk6 CER: JCU bioethics 2, should we prohibit antibiotic use in livestock? by the end of class today. The PDF holds your debate worksheet, with your finished disk-diffusion zone table as its last page. That is the only upload today. Absent? Do the same: fill in the worksheet from the scenario on this page, use the practice zone record in Part 2 of this page for the table page and write "practice data" at its top, and upload one PDF to that assignment.
Class still runs. Complete today's work as this page describes (it is self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
JCU Philosophy4KidzSources: slides, readings, and resources▸
Your Unit 1 Take-Home Exam is handed out Friday, October 2. It is due Monday, October 5 at the start of class. Read the study guide first, then take the practice test and check your answers with the key at the end.
The preparation page has the ten-skill checklist, a table of every test we used, the glossary, flashcards, two self-checking practice quizzes and study conversations you can read.
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
This week
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