Biopsy, imaging, staging, chemo, radiation, targeted therapy, response, side effects.
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 - From Biopsy to Plan: Treating Cancer
Use staging and patient outcome data to compare chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapy and justify a treatment recommendation.
- 1Open the patient outcome packet in the PLTW course shell and read the staging key before reviewing any case.
- 2For one patient, write down the biopsy result and the stage, then say in one sentence what the stage means.
- 3Make a quick three-column note comparing chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapy with one effect and one side effect each.
- 4Find the response data for two patients and circle which therapy showed the better response.
- 5Write a recommendation for your patient and back it with one piece of outcome evidence using the word apoptosis.
- 6Add one question for the Monday clinical-trial-access debate about who can join experimental treatments.
- • You'll be able to explain what cancer staging tells a care team.
- • You'll be able to compare chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapy.
- • You'll be able to justify a treatment choice using patient response data.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
One-sentence final stance plus the patient-facing reason you would give for your position.
Diagnostic-workflow ticket: ordered steps from biopsy through assigned stage, plus your stage-to-treatment sentence.
CER paragraph arguing which treatment (chemo or radiation) is more appropriate for a localized tumor, with apoptosis and side-effect evidence.
Two-column table comparing targeted therapy and chemotherapy, with qualifying-patient markup and resistance explanation.
Cancer treatment recommendation memo citing biopsy/stage/marker data, naming side effects, and specifying a monitoring criterion.
Quick intro to the week
- Today matters because diagnosing cancer is only step one; the real work is choosing a treatment that fits the patient.
- Goal for today: read staging and response data and turn it into a defensible treatment recommendation.
- Monday's debate is clinical-trial access: when standard care runs out, who gets a shot at experimental therapy?
- Your case analysis and recommendation are graded in the PLTW course shell, so submit them there.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance the Unit 3 cancer-treatment benchmark by submitting your data-backed treatment recommendation in the PLTW course shell.
- • A biopsy samples tissue so it can be examined, and staging describes how far cancer has spread.
- • Chemotherapy and radiation harm fast-dividing cells while targeted therapy aims at specific cancer features.
- • Apoptosis is programmed cell death that many treatments try to trigger in cancer cells.
- • Interpret a cancer stage to guide a treatment plan.
- • Compare treatment options using patient response data.
📋 Tracker evidence due this week: your staged patient case with a data-backed treatment recommendation submitted 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 | Fri, Apr 16 | Trial-access debate | One-sentence final stance plus the patient-facing reason you would give for your position. |
| Tuesday | Mon, Apr 19 | Biopsy and staging | Diagnostic-workflow ticket: ordered steps from biopsy through assigned stage, plus your stage-to-treatment sentence. |
| Wednesday | Tue, Apr 20 | Chemo and radiation | CER paragraph arguing which treatment (chemo or radiation) is more appropriate for a localized tumor, with apoptosis and side-effect evidence. |
| Thursday | — | Targeted therapy | Two-column table comparing targeted therapy and chemotherapy, with qualifying-patient markup and resistance explanation. |
| Friday | — | Treatment recommendation memo | Cancer treatment recommendation memo citing biopsy/stage/marker data, naming side effects, and specifying a monitoring criterion. |
- M: trial access debate
- T: diagnosis evidence
- W: treatment comparison
- Th: patient plan
- F: case memo
Due by week's end: Cancer treatment recommendation memo.
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: Patient outcome 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: Types of cancer treatmentVocabulary
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 treatment and therapeutic choices by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-3_How-to-Conquer-Cancer/3.3_Treating-Cancer; keywords:chemotherapy, radiation, cancer. 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 treatment and therapeutic choices by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-3_How-to-Conquer-Cancer/3.4_Building-a-Better-Cancer-Treatment; keywords:treatment, cancer. Score 142. 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 15 here. Use a clear file name (your initials + project). Routine work still goes to Schoology (via the CMSD portal).
Upload a project