Lesson plan for teaching secondary school students about double-blind trials

< Back to search results

• Format Lessons
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Schools
• EBM Stage 0 - Why EBM?
• Duration >15 mins
• Difficulty Introductory

Key Concepts addressed

• 2-1a Comparison groups should be similar
• 2-1d People should not know which treatment they get
• 1-2e Comparisons are needed to identify treatment effects

Details

Centre of the Cell have produced a lesson plan for teaching secondary school students about double-blind trials.

This lesson plan provides the resources you need to run stimulating activities about fair tests of treatments in a classroom setting.

‘Double Blind Trials Workshop’ developed for young people by the Centre of the Cell. The activities demonstrate how double blind trials are run, explaining what a placebo is and how the placebo effect works, how bias is removed as far as possible and how participants and trial medicines are randomised.

Activity 1: Placebo Effect Activity
Activity 2: Observer Bias
Activity 3: Double Blind Trial

Students act out the various roles of participants in a double-blind trial to test a new sunscreen:

• One student is a Scientist from the pharmaceutical company which developed the sunscreen
• One student is the Pharmacist who dispenses the cream, labelled so that no one else knows which cream is which
• One student is the Nurse, who applies the cream to volunteers
• One student is the Trial Manager, who randomises the treatments
• Four students are Volunteers

You can download a PDF of all the resources for free.

About the Centre of the Cell

Centre of the Cell is a science education centre based at Queen Mary, University of London. The website contains many biology educational resources for all levels of attainment.

• Find out more on their website.