Treatment Evidence Map¶
Run the Treatment Evidence Map MicroSim Fullscreen
About This MicroSim¶
Headlines often blur the line between a treatment that is FDA approved, one that is still being tested, and one that is just being sold. This MicroSim gives you 13 treatment cards from Chapter 17, one at a time, and three bins:
- Approved, cleared, or standard care: FDA approved, cleared, or authorized for that exact use, or recommended by guidelines and backed by trials.
- Experimental (still being tested): studied in people, but the evidence isn't strong enough for approval or routine use.
- Unproven or unsafe: no good evidence for the claim, or known to carry serious risk.
After each choice, a feedback panel tells you whether you were right and gives a one-sentence reason drawn from the chapter's sources. The same technology can land in different bins: vagus nerve stimulation is approved for epilepsy, depression, arm-movement rehabilitation after stroke, and rheumatoid arthritis, but experimental for Crohn's disease. Statuses are for the United States as of October 2026.
How to Use¶
- Read the treatment card at the top. Decide which bin it belongs in.
- Drag the card into a bin, or tap the bin.
- Read the feedback panel. If you got it wrong, find the word on the card that changes the answer (the condition, the type of device, or the type of evidence).
- Press Next card to continue. Your sorted cards appear in each bin with a check or a cross.
- When all 13 are sorted, note your score. Press Start over to reshuffle and try again.
Learning Objective¶
Bloom level: Evaluate. The learner will classify gut-brain treatments by FDA status and strength of evidence (approved, cleared, or standard care; experimental; unproven or unsafe) and justify each choice with evidence.
Iframe Embed Code¶
<iframe src="https://aaryavvatts-lab.github.io/gut-brain-textbook/sims/ch17-treatment-evidence-map/main.html" height="562px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Lesson Plan¶
Grade level: 9 to 12 (biology, health science, or anatomy and physiology)
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
Activity:
- Warm-up (3 minutes). Ask: "If something is FDA approved for one disease, is it approved for all diseases?" Collect quick answers.
- Sort (10 minutes). In pairs, students sort all 13 cards without looking at the chapter, then record their score and every card they missed.
- Investigate (7 minutes). Each pair picks two missed cards and finds the matching section of Chapter 17 to explain the correct bin in their own words.
- Discuss (6 minutes). Why do the vagus nerve cards land in different bins? Why is a low-dose antidepressant for IBS in the "standard care" bin even though it's off-label?
- Limits (3 minutes). Read the "What this model leaves out" box and name one way real evidence is more complicated than three bins.
Assessment questions:
- What is the difference between FDA approval, clearance, and authorization for a device?
- Why is FMT in different bins for recurrent C. difficile infection and for autism?
- What would need to happen for vagus nerve stimulation for Crohn's disease to move into the approved bin?
- Why is a do-it-yourself fecal transplant classified as unsafe?