Evidence-Based Model Antibiotics
How do antibiotics work? Scientists use explanatory models in order to be able to connect a series of ideas to explain how a natural phenomenon might work. Their explanation includes the available evidence and existing scientific knowledge up to that time. A model can then be tested and revised, if necessary, as new information is gained. In this model you will concentrate on telling a story of how an antibiotic might work on a typical prokaryotic bacterial cell inside of a eukaryotic animal. A story flows from a beginning, a middle, and an end. This story will be mostly a picture book story supported by words when necessary to help explain your point. The objective of this exercise is to help you to learn the cellular structures and their functions inside of two different types of cells found in living organisms. This type of story is called an explanatory model, where you explain how you think a natural phenomenon works through an evidence-based explanation (or story). Your evidence, in this instance, is the information from your observations, measurements, and reliable resources from class, your labs, and your text. OK, so let’s get started!
Here is a checklist of the following terms and concepts that you should include in your story of how antibiotics might work. Checklist for Explanatory Model of How Antibiotics Might Work(Abbreviations: P = Paragraph; F = Figure)
First, there was an infection….
- P1: Give your reader a context to your story. Where is your story taking place? How did the infection get started? Make sure you highlight that bacteria are causing the infection.
- P2: What are cells and what are they made of? Explain what Cell Theory says.
Describe the functions of all of the cellular structures in the list below.
- F1: Draw a picture of a typical prokaryotic bacterial cell next to a typical eukaryotic animal cell (After all, this infection is taking place inside of an animal!)
Be sure to include AND label the following where appropriate:
- Cell membrane
- Cell wall
- Chromosomal DNA
- Ribosomes
- Cytoplasm
- Nucleus
- Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
- Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum
- Golgi Apparatus
- Lysosomes
- Vacuoles
- Mitochondria
- Cytoskeleton
- Flagella