The science unit 'How does alcohol consumption affect our body?'¶
Design · All designs
Evidence · 3 claims (1 for, 2 mixed) · 1 study (1 qualitative),q2· 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study
Description¶
A 15-lesson science unit (four learning sets, 45-minute lessons, some extended double periods) in which high-school students investigated the effect of alcohol consumption on the human body from three disciplinary perspectives: physics (reaction time, speed, acceleration), chemistry (chemical reactions in the body), and biology (effects on body systems). Students recalled prior knowledge, built disciplinary models, then developed collaborative multidisciplinary models using draw.io online software, and finally formulated reports and reflected. The unit followed project-based learning and knowledge-building design principles.
Design Implications¶
Context¶
Requirements¶
- Students assigned to disciplinary groups by their major, then recombined into multidisciplinary groups of three
Constraints¶
- Implemented online due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Target Learners¶
- 11th-grade high-achieving science students
Learning Goals¶
- understanding effects of alcohol consumption on the body
- developing and integrating scientific models
Claims¶
- Collaborative multidisciplinary modeling tasks elicit all four cognitive processes of interdisciplinary understanding [+M]
- Three discourse patterns emerged during collaborative multidisciplinary modeling [~M]
- Groups' success in merging perspectives was related to the time they allocated to the interdisciplinary cognitive processes [~M]
Patterns Used¶
- Cooperative Learning: a jigsaw-like regrouping, from disciplinary groups (physics, chemistry, biology) into multidisciplinary groups of three that build one shared model
Related Designs¶
- Scaffold the cognitive processes of interdisciplinary understanding during collaborative modeling — the strategy drawn from this unit's findings
Examples¶
-
Key Sources¶
- Idit Adler · Saja Rabie. (2026). Towards interdisciplinarity: emerging patterns of discourses during collaborative multidisciplinary modeling. Instructional Science (2026) 54:36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-026-09785-4
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
design |
id |
alcohol-consumption-multidisciplinary-unit |
title |
The science unit 'How does alcohol consumption affect our body?' |
description |
A 15-lesson science unit (four learning sets, 45-minute lessons, some extended double periods) in which high-school students investigated the effect of alcohol consumption on the human body from three disciplinary per... |
status |
review |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-18 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — idit-adler-saja-rabie-2026 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.