A middle-aged woman dies.

All that is known is that she had high blood pressure and low insulin levels.

How did she die?

The students who have enrolled in the Principles of Biomedical Sciences class for the next school year will have to solve imaginary situations like the one above. They will explore and learn about the possible reasons behind the death using the clues given.

This is a new way of learning that forces the students to solve problems and get involved. Throughout the class there will be case studies, like the one above, which will lead into topics that the students will then learn about. After learning about each topic, the students will be able to find a solution to the case study.

“Instead of just being taught regularly, it poses problems that the students have to solve,” said Renae St. Clair, Medical Skills and Services teacher, “It’s a very unique way of teaching.”

The class will explore 30 different careers in the medical field. Some of the activities that students will be doing could be activities that freshmen in college are doing.

“It’s a high-level thinking class,” said St. Clair.

The class is only offered to freshmen and sophomores. St. Clair went around to all the current freshmen classes in order to hand out a brochure. The counselors also handed brochures out to the eighth graders. They wanted to be sure that the students who will be freshmen and sophomores next year knew about the new class.

“I was afraid that a lot of students wouldn’t even notice it as an option,” said St. Clair.

The Principles of Biomedical Sciences is part of the Medical Academy. It is the one new class that will be added to the Medical Academy next year. Medical Skills and Services will be offered again to all grades, but for juniors and seniors it will be a blended class.

After taking the Principles of Biomedical Sciences class, the students should be able to provide an answer to why a middle-aged woman with high blood pressure and low insulin levels had died.