Developed by: Mel Stave
© American Association of Immunologists 1998
Background
An interactive software
program to instruct and test high school students in immune system basics. Given
a scenario describing symptoms reported by a patient, the task in the problem
titled "Auntie Body" is to determine the cause of the patient's
complaint: an allergic reaction, an infectious disease, or a tumor. By selecting
from menu items and interpreting the information contained within, the student
will be able to reach a conclusion as to the causative agent using a limited set
of serologic, molecular and physiologic tests.
Menu items provide background information in a "Library" that includes definitions of antigen sources (allergens, bacteria, viruses, tumors), various immune cells (lymphocytes, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, and monocytes), immunoglobulins (G, A, M, E, D), and diagnostic techniques (allergy skin tests, cell counts, electrophoresis - Southern, Northern, Western blotting, and ELISA). Students can select from menu items that provide test results in the categories explained in the "Library." Other menu items offer "expert" advice and information (tabular and graphic data) from Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Prolog
In this problem, symptoms reported by a patient are revealed to the
student, who must then use information contained in various menu items at the
top of the screen display to solve the problem.
For a complete copy of the curriculum, please go to www.immex.ucla.edu.