Unit: Bittersweet: Diabetes

Topic: Diabetes

Rationale: Students will recognize that diabetes is a disease that can affect the elderly. Students will learn about the symptoms, signs, and complications of diabetes. Importantly, students will understand that diabetes is used as a model to study mechanisms of accelerated aging.

Keywords: diabetes, type 1, type 2, risk factor, glucose, sugar, insulin, pancreas, Hypoglycemia, glucose tolerance test, atherosclerosis, vascular system, cholesterol, obesity, culture, thrify gene, overweight

Search Curricular Keywords

Lessons & Activities | Overview | Objectives
Evaluation | Subjects | Funding

Newly Developed Activities

Banting, Best, and All the Rest: The Diabetes Hunters
The Carding of Diabetes: Ancient Musings
Sedentary Stan: Vascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes
The Clean Up Crew: Diabetic Kidney Disease by the Numbers
An Editor’s Eye and an Empathetic Heart: A Diabetes Dialectic and Paired Reading Activity
Tonic Water: Hyper and Hypo
Socratic Conversation About Diabetes

Original Activities in Unit

Lesson 1: Play - Desperately Seeking Insulin

Pre-Activity 1A: Class Discussion
Activity 1A: Desperately Seeking Insulin
Activity 1B: Debriefing the Play

Lesson 2: Compare and Contrast Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Pre-Activity 2A: Review of Tables and Venn Diagrams
Activity 2A: Type 1 and Type 2 Table
Activity 2B: Diabetes Venn Diagram

Lesson 3: Graphing Glucose (Sugar) Tolerance Test Results

Pre-Activity 3A: Review Graphing
Activity 3A: Graphing GTT Results

Lesson 4: Lab: Why Diabetics May Have Frequent Thirst and Urination

Pre-Activity 4A: Sugar in the Blood
Activity 4A: Vegetable Lab
Activity 4B: Dialysis Tubing Lab & Varying Amounts of Honey

Lesson 5: The Crisco Lab: A Demonstration of Diabetic Complications

Pre-Activity 5A: Sugar in a Diabetic's Blood
Activity 5A: Normal and Atherosclerotic Vessels
Activity 5B: Crisco™ Lab & Partial Blockage

Lesson 6: Meal Plan for an Older Person with Diabetes

Pre-Activity 6A: Review Personal Food Plan and Combo Foods
Activity 6A: Meal Plan for the Elderly Diabetic

Lesson 7: Hispanic Americans and Native Americans

Pre-Activity 7A: Diabetes Facts
Activity 7A: Cultural Differences

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Overview and Background Information

The teacher should refer to "The Premature Aging of People with Diabetes Mellitus" prior to instructing these lessons. This will provide the teacher with additional understanding of diabetes.

Unit Overview and Background Information for Teachers

References:

American Diabetes Association, Basic Information Series , Alexandria, VA, 1988.

American Diabetes Association, Day-by-Day , Alexandria, VA.

American Diabetes Association, Diabetes in the Family: Your Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle , Prentice Hall Press, New York, NY, 1987.

Guyton, Arthur C., M.D., Textbook of Medical Physiology , W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1991.

Kahn, C. Ronald and Gordon C. Weir, Joslin's Diabetes Mellitus 13 ed ., Lea & Febiger, Malvern, PA, 1994.

The Merck Manual of Geriatrics , Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, 1990.

Upjohn Company, Diagnosis Diabetes: Facts and Fictions , 1990.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, “The Food Pyramid,” August, 1992.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Non Insulin-Dependent Diabetes , National Institutes of Health, March, 1987.

Young, Eleanor, Nutrition, Aging, and Health , Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, 1986.

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Unit Objectives

Students will be able to:

understand how the body utilizes sugar, and what happens to sugar with the onset of diabetes
compare and contrast Type 1 (Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, or IDDM) and Type 2 diabetes (Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, or NIDDM)
recognize warning signs that help with the diagnosis of diabetes
realize the complications of untreated diabetes such as: blindness, kidney disease, amputations, heart disease, and stroke
implement aspects of self-care such as diet, exercise, and foot care for managing diabetes
recognize the need for an increasing awareness with family history, age, and ethnicity

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**Subject Areas Covered**
	Lsn 1	Lsn 2	Lsn 3	Lsn 4	Lsn 5	Lsn 6	Lsn 7
History							•
Science		•	•	•	•		•
Math			•			•
English	•	•
Reading	•	•
Fine Art	•
Physical Education						•
Health	•	•	•	•	•	•