GCSE biology textbook - diabetes section...

[Guzzler]

It’s double award science, so the three disciplines merged to give a double science GCSE - and no, it’s not for the most able pupils. Put it this way, most of the notes and resources that I’ve been given to work with are in the “comic sans” font... I’m having fun googling images of disease symptoms for a quiz I’m going to start with, where they’ll have to guess whether something gruesome is caused by a virus, bacteria or fungus

The kids'll love that, I know I would have at that age.

 

[Mr_Pot]

This is an extract from the AQA GCSE biology syllabus (note that the sections labelled HT only apply to students taking the Higher Tier) :-

Blood glucose concentration is monitored and controlled by the pancreas. If the blood glucose concentration is too high, the pancreas produces the hormone insulin that causes glucose to move from the blood into the cells. In liver and muscle cells excess glucose is converted to glycogen for storage. Students should be able to explain how insulin controls blood glucose (sugar) levels in the body. Type 1 diabetes is a disorder in which the pancreas fails to produce sufficient insulin. It is characterised by uncontrolled high blood glucose levels and is normally treated with insulin injections. In Type 2 diabetes the body cells no longer respond to insulin produced by the pancreas. A carbohydrate controlled diet and an exercise regime are common treatments. Obesity is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. Students should be able to compare Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and explain how they can be treated. WS 1.3 Evaluate information around the relationship between obesity and diabetes, and make recommendations taking into account social and ethical issues. Students should be able to extract information and interpret data from graphs that show the effect of insulin in blood glucose levels in both people with diabetes and people without diabetes. MS 2c (HT only) If the blood glucose concentration is too low, the pancreas produces the hormone glucagon that causes glycogen to be converted into glucose and released into the blood. (HT only) Students should be able to explain how glucagon interacts with insulin in a negative feedback cycle to control blood glucose (sugar) levels in the body.

That's certainly more than I knew before diagnosis.

 

[Member496333]

It could do with discriminating between autoimmune and insulin resistance. Pretty much every statement in that text is false if viewed from a position of the opposing type of diabetes. I think 15-16yo teenagers are capable of understanding the differences. That is so simplified it’s not worth teaching. I’m sure you’ll set the record straight @Mel dCP

Actually it probably isn’t too far short of what most GPs are seemingly taught about diabetes

 

[LooperCat]

A few of them know about my cyborg status and are fascinated with the tech I wear - mainly because I had to explain to them why I’d got my phone out in class after telling them not to! I use it to calculate and log my insulin doses, scan my Libre sensor and Bluetooth my levels/IOB/COB to my watch. They use theirs to fart about on Instagram. So we’ve touched on diabetes - in that type one isn’t caused by my being fat or eating too much sugar. The subject came up when I was teaching in another school - the cover work I was given was all about how important carbs were as part of a healthy diet...

 

[lovinglife]

in that type one isn’t caused by my being fat or eating too much sugar...

Neither is T2

 

[LooperCat]

Neither is T2

I know. And so do they now. But it was what they had picked up from lessons and the media. I was responding to their questions about my own condition.

 

[Listlad]

Actually it probably isn’t too far short of what most GPs are seemingly taught about diabetes

Don’t get me started.

 

[Listlad]

@Mel dCP

I hope this isn’t regarded as going too far off topic.

At my daughters school they seem to be into having biscuit days and cake days. During Valentines week they had Valentine biscuits available for the kids to buy at 50p a pop. All funds go to the school coffers.

Cake days pop up with regularity, following a similar formula, but parents are invited along too. I went to one before Christmas and queued up behind a number of parents and kids in the school yard after school, eventually buying several slabs of carrot cake. I said to the teacher manning the stall that it was a good job I wasn’t diabetic and she laughed at the irony.

Do you come across many kids with the condition, either T1 or T2?

 

[Fruitella]

Might be worth contacting the publishers too at some point if this is a new text! I wonder how many legs a glucose table has.

 

[KK123]

Interesting that dietary restriction is the first method of control.

Which would be downright dangerous for a type 1, another reason why they should be clear at how the types differ as does the treatment. All type 1s require insulin (outside of honeymooning and lada etc) and many type 2s also need insulin but others don't. To lump it all together in the initial description and then to quote diet as a first method of control for all is ludicrous.

 

[ringi]

Remember most of the time is spend on how the body should work, and what the different bits do when all the systems are working.

 

[Colin of Kent]

Which would be downright dangerous for a type 1

I must respectfully disagree. I think dietary awareness and control - of some form or another - is vital for good glycaemic control in Type 1. The extent of dietary restriction/control will vary from one individual to the next, of course, but at this point in my diabetes journey, I feel somewhat disillusioned by the notion that pumping and carb counting can allow Type 1's to eat 'normally'. (Whatever 'normal' means!)

 

[Deleted member 308541]

this is the section on diabetes in the biology textbook

This is the amount of coverage in a St John first aid book from 1982 ish, lots of info here as well.

 

[LooperCat]

@Mel dCP

I hope this isn’t regarded as going too far off topic.

At my daughters school they seem to be into having biscuit days and cake days. During Valentines week they had Valentine biscuits available for the kids to buy at 50p a pop. All funds go to the school coffers.

Cake days pop up with regularity, following a similar formula, but parents are invited along too. I went to one before Christmas and queued up behind a number of parents and kids in the school yard after school, eventually buying several slabs of carrot cake. I said to the teacher manning the stall that it was a good job I wasn’t diabetic and she laughed at the irony.

Do you come across many kids with the condition, either T1 or T2?

Most schools have one or two T1s, in my experience. There’s usually a T2 or three on the staff. And yeah, EVERYTHING revolves around cake at the moment

 

[Listlad]

Most schools have one or two T1s, in my experience. There’s usually a T2 or three on the staff. And yeah, EVERYTHING revolves around cake at the moment

They sent me a text today saying that Fairtrade sweets, chocolates and biscuits would be on sale tomorrow.

 

[LooperCat]

They sent me a text today saying that Fairtrade sweets, chocolates and biscuits would be on sale tomorrow.

You should see the trays of ***** for sharing in most staff rooms, it’s astonishing how badly many teachers seem to eat!

Edited by moderator for language.

 

[Listlad]

You should see the trays of **** for sharing in most staff rooms, it’s astonishing how badly many teachers seem to eat!

Well ironically I take my daughters teachers in some cakes at the end of the autumn and summer term. Rather nice ones. Just in the way of appreciation as I know they work hard.

The woman who makes them is a part time supply teacher who runs a cake making business in her spare time.

Quoted edited by Mod

 

[Listlad]

@Mel dCP

Here’s the flyer for it. Note the reference to “foods”.

 

[Member496333]

That piece of paper looks like an instruction manual for getting type 2 diabetes.

 

[Listlad]

That piece of paper looks like an instruction manual for getting type 2 diabetes.

I agree. It’s funny but not funny. I feel something should be said which would mean tackling the head, head on.