Receiving the wrong blood type can be deadly! The ability to type blood is an essential skill to learn in the fields of medicine and criminology. Whereas DNA fingerprinting can take hours to obtain results, typing blood only takes a few minutes. I teach Biology Honors to 9th and 10th grade students in a suburban high school in Texas. My classes reflect our school's demographics of 24% African American, 19% Hispanic, 53% Caucasian, and 17% economically disadvantaged.
Learning about compatible and incompatible blood types is an important concept in immunology. Students are very interested in learning how the immune system works to protect the body against any foreign agents, such as incompatible blood tissue. To keep students interested in biology and to provide examples of the roles of biology in society today, laboratory investigations such as blood typing expose students to relevant, real-life situations where their knowledge of biology is put into action. Supplemental supplies are often needed to provide such enriching and relevant investigations. Unfortunately, I do not currently have enough supplies for all of my students to participate in blood typing activities.
The “ABO-Rh Blood Typing with Synthetic Blood” kit will allow students to explore the process of blood typing and investigate compatible verses incompatible blood types. Though the test procedures used in the kit are similar to those used to test real blood, the kit contains synthetic blood and antisera. Thus, using this kit will ensure student safety by eliminating any risks associated with exposure to real blood and real body fluids.
By supporting this project, you will be enriching the learning of prospective doctors and criminologists by allowing them to gain relevant, real life experience in typing blood. Students will have a better understanding that though blood is red, not all blood types are equal and receiving the wrong blood type can be deadly.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Howsmon and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
