The Immune System

Resource Type
Description
This interactive module introduces the anatomy of the immune system and walks through the timeline of a typical immune response.
The timeline includes the differences between the first time a pathogen is encountered versus subsequent infections, including an explanation of how vaccines work. Different tabs, videos, images, questions, and a detailed glossary of terms allow this resource to be explored at varying levels of depth depending on the class. Refer to the “Educator Materials” for implementation suggestions.
The accompanying worksheets guide students’ exploration. The “General Immunology” worksheet is a guided exploration of the Click & Learn. The “Immunotherapy” worksheet applies the content in the Click & Learn to cancer immunotherapy. The “Vaccine Research Extension” worksheet guides students through an optional research project on vaccines. The glossary and illustrations in the Click & Learn are also provided as slide decks; you may make copies of these slides and adapt them to your classroom.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Identify the main organs and cells of the immune system, and explain their functions.
- Compare and contrast the innate and adaptive immune responses, and explain how they interact.
- Explain the role of memory cells when the body responds to a pathogen it has previously encountered, and apply this knowledge to the function of vaccines.
- Interpret graphs to support and/or revise scientific explanations.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
adaptive immune response, antibody, antigen, B cell, cytokine, dendritic cell, innate immune response, pathogen, T cell, vaccine
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS1-2; SEP8
AP Biology (2019)
IST-3.A; IST-3.F; SP1, SP2
IB Biology (2016)
6.3, 11.1
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.2; ELA.WHST.9-12.9
Vision and Change (2009)
CC2, CC5; DP1