Wheaton High School

Bioscience Academy Courses

Principles of the Biomedical Sciences

This course provides an introduction to the biomedical sciences through exciting “hands-on” projects and problems. Student work involves the study of human medicine, research processes and an introduction to bio-informatics. Students investigate the human body systems and various health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, hypercholesterolemia, and infectious diseases. A theme through the course is to determine the factors that led to the death of a fictional person. After determining the factors responsible for the death, the students investigate lifestyle choices and medical treatments that might have prolonged the person’s life. Key biological concepts including: homeostasis, metabolism, inheritance of traits, feedback systems, and defense against disease are embedded in the curriculum. Engineering principles including: the design process, feedback loops, fluid dynamics, and the relationship of structure to function are incorporated in the curriculum where appropriate. The course is designed to provide an overview of all the courses in the Biomedical Sciences program and to lay the scientific foundation necessary for student success in the subsequent courses.

Human Body Systems

This course will engage students in the study of the processes, structures and interactions of human body systems. Important biomedical concepts in the course include: communication, transport of substances, locomotion, metabolic processes, identity, and protection. The central theme will focus on how the body systems work together to maintain homeostasis and good health. The systems will be studied as “parts of a whole,” working together to keep the amazing human machine functioning at an optimal level. Students will design experiments, investigate the structures and functions of body systems, and use data acquisition software to monitor body functions such as muscle movement, reflex and voluntary actions, and respiratory operation. Exploring science in action, students will work through interesting real world cases and often play the role of biomedical professionals to solve medical mysteries.

Medical Interventions

In the Medical Interventions course, students investigate the variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as they follow the lives of a fictitious family. A “How-To” manual for maintaining overall health and homeostasis in the body, the course will explore how to prevent and fight infection, how to screen and evaluate the code in our DNA, how to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, and how to prevail when the organs of the body begin to fail. Through these scenarios, students are exposed to the wide range of interventions related to immunology, surgery, genetics, pharmacology, medical devices, and diagnostics. Each family case scenario introduces multiple types of interventions and reinforces concepts learned in the previous two courses, as well as presenting new content. Interventions may range from simple diagnostic tests to the treatment of complex diseases and disorders. These interventions are showcased across the generations of the family and provide a look at the past, present and future of biomedical science. Lifestyle choices and preventive measures are emphasized throughout the course as well as the important roles scientific thinking and engineering design play in the development of interventions of the future.

Biomedical Innovation

The capstone course gives student teams the opportunity to work with a mentor, identify a science research topic, conduct research, write a scientific paper, and defend team conclusions and recommendations to a panel of outside reviewers.  Each team will have one or more mentors from the scientific and/or medical community guiding their scientific research.  This course may be combined with capstone courses from the pre-engineering pathway, allowing students from both pathways to work together to engineer a product that could impact healthcare.