Reading qualitative vs. quantitative color results; false positive/negative risk; control logic.
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 - Reading the color: running an ELISA and trusting your controls
Run an ELISA, read qualitative and quantitative color results, and use positive and negative controls to judge validity.
- 1Set up your plate with your samples plus a positive control and a negative control well.
- 2Add primary antibody, then secondary antibody, washing between steps as the protocol directs.
- 3Add substrate and watch for color change, timing it the same for every well.
- 4Record each well as positive or negative (qualitative) and note color intensity (quantitative).
- 5Check that your positive control turned color and your negative control stayed clear before trusting results.
- 6Flag any well that could be a false positive or false negative and explain why.
- • You will be able to run an ELISA and read its color results.
- • You will be able to use controls to decide whether a run is valid.
- • You will be able to explain false positive and false negative risk.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
Written CER on the ethics of using an imperfect test: claim with conditions, evidence about false-result harms, reasoning, and rebuttal.
Numbered wet ELISA procedure, labeled plate layout with positive and negative controls marked, and predicted control colors.
Wet ELISA data table: well ID, reagent added, color result; control validation note; plate photograph.
2x2 classification table sorting ELISA results into true/false positives and negatives, plus a one-sentence reliability judgment citing controls.
Full ELISA lab report: plate photo, data table, claim with control validation, reasoning paragraph, sensitivity/specificity discussion, and limitation sentence.
Quick intro to the week
- Hook: a single mislabeled or contaminated well can flip a patient's diagnosis, so controls matter.
- Today's goal: run the ELISA, read color, and let your controls tell you whether to trust the data.
- Connect to Monday's debate on test reliability: sensitivity and specificity are exactly today's stakes.
- Reminder: your color-data table and control analysis are graded in the PLTW course shell.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance the PLTW Unit 1 diagnostic-lab benchmark in the online course shell with your ELISA results and control check.
- • A positive control should produce signal and a negative control should not.
- • Sensitivity and specificity describe how well a test catches true cases and avoids false alarms.
- • Read ELISA results both qualitatively and quantitatively.
- • Use control wells to validate or reject a test run.
📋 PLTW tracker evidence due this week: ELISA color-data table with a written control validity check.
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 | Tue, Feb 16 | Bioethics debate: false results | Written CER on the ethics of using an imperfect test: claim with conditions, evidence about false-result harms, reasoning, and rebuttal. |
| Tuesday | Wed, Feb 17 | Controls and wet-lab plan | Numbered wet ELISA procedure, labeled plate layout with positive and negative controls marked, and predicted control colors. |
| Wednesday | Thu, Feb 18 | Wet ELISA lab | Wet ELISA data table: well ID, reagent added, color result; control validation note; plate photograph. |
| Thursday | Fri, Feb 19 | Specificity vs sensitivity | 2x2 classification table sorting ELISA results into true/false positives and negatives, plus a one-sentence reliability judgment citing controls. |
| Friday | — | ELISA lab report submission | Full ELISA lab report: plate photo, data table, claim with control validation, reasoning paragraph, sensitivity/specificity discussion, and limitation sentence. |
- M: debate + plate map
- T: lab setup
- W: ELISA data
- Th: analysis
- F: lab report submit
Due by week's end: ELISA lab report with controls, diagnosis, limitations.
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: Virtual ELISA plus teacher color-data analysis.
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:
HHMI BioInteractiveVocabulary
Virtual resources
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 ELISA lab, controls, diagnosis limits by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.1_The-Mystery-Infection; keywords:elisa, lab. Score 138. 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 ELISA lab, controls, diagnosis limits by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.1_The-Mystery-Infection; keywords:elisa, lab. Score 138. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched ELISA lab, controls, diagnosis limits by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.1_The-Mystery-Infection; keywords:elisa, lab. 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 5 here. Use a clear file name (your initials + project). Routine work still goes to Schoology (via the CMSD portal).
Upload a project