This experience will provide students with an opportunity for hands-on experience in preparing and examining blood smears from different species in the context of disease diagnosis case study. Students will identify different types of blood cells and compare the differences between species. They will also learn about blood typing and conduct an experiment to determine the blood type of several blood samples. Lastly, students will integrate creativity and observation skills to create a representation of their findings through visual arts.

High Schools:

• What is blood? This video gives a good overview video. 
• Blood typing. This video provides simpler explanations            

Grades 7-8:

• Operation Ouch, Biology Facts for Kids video

There will be three parts to this lab experience. After a brief instruction, students will engage in authentic, hands-on activities and discussions. Students will have ample opportunity to ask questions throughout the session. 

• Part I – Blood smear examination (50 minutes). After a brief introduction to present the disease case study, students will prepare, stain, and examine blood smears; debrief the results; and discuss observed abnormalities and the associated pathologies. Note, students will use sterile sheep blood and prepared blood pathology slides, both purchased from vendors that prepare these samples for the purposes of education and research. 
• Part II – Blood typing (40 minutes): This will be done using a commercial blood typing kit and presented in the context of mismatched transfusion consequences.
• Part III – The Art of blood (30 minutes). Students will draw and/or paint an art form based on what they see through the microscope and their lab experience. In addition to providing a space for creativity, which is an important STEM skill, this “draw to learn” type of experience has been shown to help students deepen their understanding. In this case, this is facilitated by looking at cells with a different perspective allowing them to make observations they may have missed in the previous parts when examining the details and patterns through the "lens" of scientific investigation.

Hands–on activities will remain the same. The differentiation will be in the level of scientific explanation and topics discussed. 

• Basic understanding of blood (what is blood, what is in the blood, why do we need blood).
• It would be helpful if the students had prior exposure to microscopes, but not required. 

• The process of science: Why do we need to examine blood smears? What is your prediction of the proportion of different cell types in the given sample? Does your result match your prediction? How is the blood of several species different?
• Data visualization: Scientists have an important responsibility to communicate their findings to the public and one way they do this is through data visualization. While we don't typically think of drawings and paintings as traditional forms of data visualization, they are! Biological illustration is a fascinating career and this work varies from detailed accurate drawings of human anatomy to more artistic renderings of a thing or concept. In addition to making connections to data visualization, this experience will also encourage students to connect and find the art in science by illustrating their findings through the medium of art. 
• Quantitative reasoning. Counting the different blood cells and determining the proportion of cell types in the given sample.
• Systems thinking: The overall function of blood, how the different organs will be affected in case of anemia or other blood-borne diseases, how does an organism's environment affect their blood
• Scientific communication: Students will be encouraged to share and discuss their results
• Other skills: Basic microscopy techniques, micro-pipetting, and staining techniques

Biology: The microscopy skills practiced in this experience are fundamental to all areas of Biology. Cell biologists, Geneticists, Virologists and other Microbiologists rely on high-power microscopes such as compound microscopes and confocal microscopes to visualize what the naked eye can't see. Biologists that ask questions about organismal behavior, ecosystems, systematics, and other macro-level concepts rely on what has been and is still being learned from microscopy about the parts of those entities in order to better understand their animal, plant, ecosystem, etc. at the systems level. In this experience, students will be using the same compound microscopes used in teaching and research labs at JMU.  

Chemistry: The differential staining of cells and subcellular components that students will practice is based on the differential reaction of stains with different biochemical composition of cells. 

Health science: – This experience helps students develop their understanding of the structure and function of blood and how that structure and function is affected by disease. 

Both Professors Velayudhan and Marquardt are physiologists who teach the functions of blood in health and diseases in lecture and laboratory courses. They are both highly invested in STEM outreach and value the importance of awareness in STEM and exposing students to STEM in their early years—curiosity is a marvelous educational tool! This activity directly connects to both their teaching and professional interest in STEM education. It is important for everyone to understand how science affects us in our everyday lives.  Physiology helps us understand ourselves as living organisms and helps us appreciate the unique individuality in each of us. 

Routine examination of blood is an integral part of health assessment. Not only the complete blood cell count, but other metabolic panel assessment is also critical to evaluate the functional status of different organs. A relatively recent real-life example of the importance of blood testing was the monitoring of the level of lead in blood in children played a huge role in the infamous lead poisoning through pipe water supply in Flint, Michigan in the early 2000s. Learn more here. 

• Medical Laboratory Scientists work with a variety of biological samples and help in diagnosing diseases. 
• Hematopathologists are experts that conduct special tests and diagnose different blood and bone marrow diseases.  
• Phlebotomists are health care professionals who collect blood samples from patients for tests, transfusions, or donations. 
• Laboratory technician jobs are available in a variety of settings such as clinical diagnostics, research laboratories in clinical, academic and pharmaceutical fields. The laboratory technicians typically collect samples and run different tests. 
• Science Illustrators work in the service of science, teaching, informing, and fostering understanding of our world. They use a range of visual techniques to communicate science in education, research, public relations, and marketing. They have careers in research institutes and universities; museums and zoos; publishing companies, magazines, and newspapers; web and animation firms; and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. 

• Blood. This video provides more technical info about blood cells and typing 
• This is an excerpt from a book chapter on blood composition and functions of different blood cells. 
• This is an example protocol for blood smear preparation and staining.