Educate Today | New Treatments and Technology for Patients with Chronic Itch

Grades: 6 - 12

Learn how a new application for an arthritis drug is becoming a potentially successful therapy in the fight against chronic itch.

Teacher Resources for the Video:

NGSS Disciplines Addressed in Standards Referenced Below:

Discussion Questions:

This innovation is an example of a drug created for one purpose being used for a different purpose. How do students think researchers discover and determine how a drug might be used in new and different ways? What are the impacts of such new applications? How might this be an example of “interdependence of science, technology, and engineering?”
What is student reaction to the level of itch that the patient faced? Are they surprised that itch could cause such effects?

Activity Ideas:

Provide the video for students who are doing independent projects on medical discoveries or other medical/health related topics.
Use the video in conjunction with an activity that has students focusing on the impact of new medical discoveries on patients. Based on viewing the video, how do they think the life of a patient with chronic itch could be changed by this research?

Vocabulary to Consider:

Resources for Additional Research:

Learn more about the Center for the Study of Itch at https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/category/biomed-21/center-for-the-study-of-itch/.
Learn more about the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices at the NSTA website.

Unique ID for the Video:

Use the unique ID as a shortcut for students to find this specific video. Click on Search and choose “By Video ID.” Type in the Video ID as it appears above.