Week 3: Nursing Science - Routes, Simulation, and Handoff

2nd Six Weeks | Health Science Cluster | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students compare preparation, responsibility, and pay across four nursing-related careers; build and test a micro:bit vital-signs simulator; and use fictional patient information to write an accurate supervised handoff. The week ends with the required Xello Save careers task.

Learning Target: I can compare nursing routes, explain what a training simulator can and cannot do, and hand off fictional patient information without diagnosing.

Success Criteria:

• My route comparison uses at least three careers and labels every pay figure correctly.
• My MakeCode program displays fictional values on Buttons A and B and passes its test plan.
• My handoff separates supplied values, reported symptoms, and inference.
• My Xello account shows at least three saved careers.

Demonstration of Learning

Students submit the Canvas Nursing Route Evidence Check (or the optional print scaffold) and one Observation and Clinical Handoff Record. The MakeCode build may be completed on a physical micro:bit, in the browser simulator, or through a paper block trace. Day 5 completion is verified in the Xello Completion Standards report.

TEKS Alignment

• d(1)(B): Explore and describe the Health Science career cluster (Day 1).
• d(1)(C): Identify nursing-related career opportunities and connect responsibilities to patient data, technology, and handoff (Days 1, 3, 4, and 5).
• d(2)(A): Research education, licensure, and training requirements (Day 2).
• d(2)(B): Evaluate nursing education routes and trade-offs (Day 2).
• d(5)(E): Compare salaries of at least three careers using a consistent, labeled source (Day 2).

Materials Needed

• Chromebooks and internet access
• Find Your Future workbook pp. 59-61, 84-86
• Climber Notes: "Vitals in Motion," slide 2 tool reference
• Nursing Career Route Guide
• Canvas Nursing Assistant/LVN Model Check and Nursing Route Evidence Check (default response surfaces)
• Nursing Route Comparison and Decision (optional print/access fallback; do not print as a class set by default)
• Vital Signs Simulator Build and Test
• Fictional Patient Handoff Cards
• Observation and Clinical Handoff Record
• Nursing Route and Handoff Rubric
• Xello Save Three Careers Reflection
• Microsoft MakeCode for micro:bit: makecode.microbit.org
• micro:bits and USB cables, optional; the browser simulator is an equal route
• Xello accounts

Before Monday

1. Test MakeCode on the student network. Confirm that the on-screen simulator works even if no micro:bits are charged.
2. Open the embedded workbook and Climber Notes visuals in Canvas.
3. Confirm Xello access and the Save careers completion rule: 30 minutes and at least three saved careers.
4. Decide whether Day 4 uses the unpublished Canvas practice quiz or its paper question fallback.
5. Do not collect real student health measurements, symptoms, names, or medical histories. All Day 4 data are fictional.

Career Connection

FYF pp. 84-85 are the district-customized HQIM snapshot for Health Science programs, related IBCs, equipment, and experiences. The current Singley Academy webpage separately lists Nursing Science, Physical Therapy, Dental, and Emergency Medical - EMT. Keep both labels attached to their sources. A difference is a teacher verification note, not a reason to mark the workbook wrong or promise that every student earns a listed credential.

The dated route guide uses May 2024 U.S. medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: nursing assistant $39,530, LVN $62,340, RN $93,600, and nurse practitioner $129,210. These are national medians, not starting wages or DFW pay. Xello is the first choice for a current localized figure when its geography, date, and pay measure are visible.

Safety, Privacy, and Scope Boundary

The micro:bit program is a training simulator. It does not measure a person or function as medical equipment. Students do not take classmates' temperatures, blood pressure, oxygen levels, or medical histories. Day 4 uses fictional cards so students can practice observation, data-quality checks, and handoff without diagnosis or collection of health information.

Vocabulary

• Median wage: The middle wage in a group of workers, not a guaranteed starting salary.
• Licensure: Legal permission from a state board to practice a regulated profession.
• Scope of practice: Work a licensed role is legally prepared and allowed to perform.
• Simulation: A model used to practice a process without claiming to be the real system.
• Observation: A supplied value or directly reported fact.
• Inference: An interpretation that goes beyond the direct evidence.
• Handoff: An organized transfer of information to the next responsible person.

Source Grounding

• FYF p. 59 introduces the Health Science cluster and the community health fair decision.
• FYF pp. 60-61 provide the "Vitals in Motion" scenario, tool questions, data chart, and report fields.
• FYF pp. 84-85 provide the district-customized instructional snapshot. The current Irving ISD website is a separately dated cross-check when its program labels differ.
• FYF p. 86 provides the Health Science App Exploration page.
• Climber Notes: "Vitals in Motion," slide 2 identifies the blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, digital thermometer, and stopwatch.
• BLS, Texas Board of Nursing, Irving ISD, and Microsoft MakeCode supply the dated career, licensure, local-pathway, and coding facts in the CCE guides.

IISD Instructional Strategies

• Think-Pair-Share: Day 1, students use the FYF health fair prompt to connect a booth to the worker who would staff it. Hold the silent think before both partners speak, then select share-outs from what you heard.
• Stop and Jot: Day 2, students write one advantage and one trade-off for the ADN and BSN routes before discussion. Check whether they named cost, time, admission, licensure, or long-term goals instead of repeating "more school equals more money."
• Active Monitoring: Day 3, use three fixed laps: Button A displays a fictional heart-rate value; Button B displays the temperature code; the student can explain why neither value came from a person.
• Chunking: Day 4, separate situation, observations, comparison, handoff, and reasoning. Do not release the next section until students have removed diagnoses from the observation section.
• Time, Voice, Body: Day 5, post a 30-minute Xello block with Voice 0, screens facing the aisle, and a visible checkpoint at 15 minutes. Students with access problems move to the paper reflection and supervised catch-up list.

Week at a Glance

Assessment and Grading

• Daily exit tickets remain formative.
• The Day 4 route-and-handoff evidence set is the recommended minor checkpoint, scored with the 16-point rubric. Device access, platform access, public speaking, and physical measurement are not graded.
• The Canvas practice quiz is ungraded and may be retried. It checks misconceptions before the handoff is submitted.
• The two nursing-route Canvas checks are ungraded response surfaces. They replace routine printing; the four-page organizer is an access/no-device fallback under the same success criteria.
• Xello completion may be recorded as part of a later profile checkpoint. Do not create a separate grade for every click.

Differentiation

• Keep required directions visible in Canvas; use disclosures only for examples, glossary help, and optional extensions.
• Offer the physical micro:bit, browser simulator, and paper block trace as equal evidence routes.
• Provide bilingual labels and sentence frames for route, median, observation, symptom, inference, and handoff.
• Allow speech-to-text or oral rehearsal before individual writing when documented supports permit it.
• An absent student completes the same fictional case and simulator route. No peer measurement or live presentation is required.