Cancer as loss of regulation; tumor types; diagnostic workflow.
What to do if absent- 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 — you open it through Schoology.
Week overview - When Cells Forget the Rules: Cancer Launch
Use cell morphology images to tell benign from malignant tissue and describe the diagnostic workflow that follows a suspicious finding.
- 1Open the labeled morphology packet in the PLTW course shell and read the image key before judging any slide.
- 2Set up the microscope, focus on the provided prepared slide, and sketch what a normal cell layer looks like.
- 3Compare your normal sketch to a tumor image and circle two features that look out of place, such as crowding or odd nuclei.
- 4Label one image as benign and one as malignant, writing one reason for each using the word metastasis.
- 5Match the terms oncogene and tumor suppressor to a one-line description of what each does when it goes wrong.
- 6Draft one question for the Monday cancer-screening debate about who should be screened and when.
- • You'll be able to tell benign from malignant tissue using cell features.
- • You'll be able to define oncogene and tumor suppressor in your own words.
- • You'll be able to outline the steps of a basic cancer diagnostic workflow.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
One CER on whether broad cancer screening does more good than harm, plus a reflection naming one false-positive or cost counterargument.
Two-column morphology comparison (benign vs. malignant), one-line metastasis explanation, and a three-step diagnostic workflow sketch.
Quick intro to the week
- Today launches Unit 3: cancer is what happens when the cell cycle loses its brakes and growth runs wild.
- Goal for today: read tissue images like a pathologist and capture a clean baseline of normal versus abnormal.
- Monday is our bioethics debate, and the question is cancer screening: who should be tested, how often, and at what cost?
- Remember, all graded work, including your morphology packet and image baseline, lives in the PLTW course shell.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance the Unit 3 cancer-launch benchmark by submitting your benign-versus-malignant image baseline in the PLTW course shell.
- • Cancer is a loss of normal growth regulation, and a tumor is a mass of cells that can be benign or malignant.
- • Metastasis is the spread of malignant cells to distant tissues.
- • Oncogenes push growth while tumor suppressors normally hold growth in check.
- • Distinguish benign from malignant tissue using cell morphology.
- • Describe the diagnostic workflow from suspicious finding to classification.
📋 Tracker evidence due this week: your labeled benign-versus-malignant microscopy image baseline uploaded to the PLTW course shell.
All PLTW activities are completed inside the PLTW course environment — this page only gives direction.
This week's PLTW tracker
Your week at a glance. Check off each deliverable as you finish it, then submit so Mr. Mendoza can see how the class is pacing.
Use the code Mr. Mendoza gave you, not your name. Saved on this device.
| Day | Date | Focus | Key deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Thu, Nov 12 | Cancer screening debate | One CER on whether broad cancer screening does more good than harm, plus a reflection naming one false-positive or cost counterargument. |
| Tuesday | Fri, Nov 13 | Microscopy image baseline | Two-column morphology comparison (benign vs. malignant), one-line metastasis explanation, and a three-step diagnostic workflow sketch. |
- M: cancer screening debate + concept map
- T: diagnostic workflow ticket
- W–F: no school
Due by week's end: Short-week cancer launch checkpoint.
Lab day — what to bring & watch
This explainer accompanies the PLTW lab protocol — watch it before lab.
What to do when absent
Most days, this class is your PLTW coursework — and PLTW is online and individual. So being out usually just means doing exactly what we did in class, from home.
Open Schoology (CMSD) and keep goingHow to get there: open the CMSD website, click Clever, sign in with your Microsoft (district) account, then open Schoology from Clever.
You can't do those from home — do this instead: Labeled morphology packet.
Class still runs. A substitute will post today's plan — complete the online activity above; it's built to be self-guided. Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
National Cancer Institute: What Is Cancer?Vocabulary
Teacher-posted resources
Classroom documents for this lesson. Ones marked “Open the file” open right here; the rest are posted in Schoology. Use the label on each card to choose the right move.
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Cancer launch, biopsy, diagnosis workflow by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-3_How-to-Conquer-Cancer/3.1_Detecting-Cancer; keywords:cancer, tumor, biopsy. Score 146. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Cancer launch, biopsy, diagnosis workflow by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-3_How-to-Conquer-Cancer/00_Unit-Overview; keywords:cancer, diagnosis, osteosarcoma. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Cancer launch, biopsy, diagnosis workflow by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-3_How-to-Conquer-Cancer/3.1_Detecting-Cancer; keywords:cancer, osteosarcoma. Score 138. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
How to get there: open the CMSD website, click Clever, sign in with your Microsoft (district) account, then open Schoology from Clever.
Standards this week
WebXam practice
Drop your Week 14 here. Use a clear file name (your initials + project). Routine work still goes to Schoology (via the CMSD portal).
Upload a project