Summary
This collection is a series of five lessons about health disparities that exist among communities. In Lesson 1, students will learn about what occurs in the respiratory system before, during, and after an asthma attack. In Lesson 2, students will analyze Oklahoma City's air quality and pollutant levels and then develop a public service announcement. In Lesson 3, students will view Oklahoma's life expectancy map and examine the effects of environmental threats on air quality and society. Students will then compare the Oklahoma City community with that of Washington, D.C.Resources
5E Lesson
In this introductory lesson to the Connecting Social Issues and Human Health Gaps unit, students will explore asthma through a variety of station activities, videos, readings, and charts. In doing so, students will better understand what occurs in the respiratory system before, during, and after an... Read more »
Created by: Alonna Smith
Date Updated: March 25th, 2026
5E Lesson
Connecting Social Issues and Human Health Gaps, Lesson 1
Understanding Asthma
- 9th - 12th
- Science
- Biology, Environmental Science
- HS-LS1-2, HS-LS1-3, B.LS1.2, B.LS1.2.1, B.LS1.3 , B.LS1.3.1
4-5 periods
240-300 minutes
5E Lesson
During this second lesson in the Connecting Social Issues and Health Gaps unit, students will analyze Oklahoma City's air quality and pollutant levels from 2020 and summarize important information about air pollutants in a public service announcement. Read more »
Created by: Alonna Smith
Date Updated: March 25th, 2026
5E Lesson
Connecting Social Issues and Human Health Gaps, Lesson 2
Environmental Factors
- 9th - Undergraduate
- Science
- Biology, Environmental Science
- HS-LS2-7, HS-LS4-6
6-7 periods
360-420 minutes
5E Lesson
During this third lesson in the Connecting Social Issues and Health Gap unit, students will view Oklahoma's life expectancy map, identify environmental threats that contribute to these life expectancies, and discuss what these threats mean with regard to air quality and society. Students then compare... Read more »
Created by: Alonna Smith
Date Updated: March 25th, 2026
5E Lesson
Connecting Social Issues and Human Health Gaps, Lesson 3
Comparing Communities
- 9th - 12th
- Science
- Biology, Environmental Science
- HS-LS1-3, HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-6, HS-LS2-7, HS-LS4-6, B.LS1.3 , B.LS1.3.1, B.LS2.2 , B.LS2.2.1, B.LS2.2.2, B.LS2.2.3, B.LS2.2.4, B.LS2.2.5, B.LS2.5 , B.LS2.5.1, B.LS2.5.2, B.LS2.6 , B.LS2.6.1, B.LS2.6.2, B.LS2.6.3
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (Grades 9, 10, 11, 12)
HS-LS1-2: Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
HS-LS1-3: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.
HS-LS2-2: Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
HS-LS2-5: Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
HS-LS2-6: Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
HS-LS4-6: Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.
Oklahoma Academic Standards (Biology)
B.LS1.2: Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
B.LS1.2.1: Multicellular organisms have a hierarchical structural organization, in which any one system is made up of numerous parts and is itself a component of the next level.
B.LS1.3 : Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the importance of maintaining homeostasis in living organisms.
B.LS1.3.1: Feedback mechanisms maintain a living system’s internal conditions within certain limits and mediate behaviors, allowing it to remain alive and functional even as external conditions change within some range. Outside that range (e.g., at too high or low external temperature, with too little food or water available) the organism cannot survive.
B.LS2.2 : Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
B.LS2.2.1: Ecosystems have carrying capacities, which are limits to the numbers of organisms and populations they can support. These limits result from such factors as the availability of living and nonliving resources and from such challenges such as predation, competition, and disease.
B.LS2.2.2: Organisms would have the capacity to produce populations of great size were it not for the fact that environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension affects the abundance (number of individuals) of species in any given ecosystem.
B.LS2.2.3: A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its number and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions.
B.LS2.2.4: If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient) as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem.
B.LS2.2.5: Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any populations, however, can challenge the functions of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability.
B.LS2.5 : Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
B.LS2.5.1: Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are important components of the carbon cycle, in which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and geosphere through chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes.
B.LS2.5.2: The main way that solar energy is captured and stored on Earth is through the complex chemical process known as photosynthesis.
B.LS2.6 : Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
B.LS2.6.1: A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its number and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions.
B.LS2.6.2: If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient) as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem.
B.LS2.6.3: Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any populations, however, can challenge the functions of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability.
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