Columbia University’s Summer Research Program for Science Teachers. Acting as epidemiologists, students investigate facts related to a fictitious outbreak of West Nile virus and then pose various hypotheses about its origin. They present their hypotheses and an action plan to the Board of Health (represented by the teacher).
EXCITE! Science Ambassador: West Nile Virus Strikes Again
SAFER·HEALTHIER·PEOPLE™, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Excellence in Curriculum Innovation through Teaching Epidemiology and the Science of Public Health (EXCITE). Students develop a prevention plan for an American Indian reservation that is experiencing a new occurrence of West Nile virus infection, while considering the cultural and environmental implications relevant to this population.
EXCITE! Science Ambassador: Entomologists on Safari: On the Hunt for Mosquitoes
SAFER·HEALTHIER·PEOPLE™, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Excellence in Curriculum Innovation through Teaching Epidemiology and the Science of Public Health (EXCITE). Acting as entomologists, students investigate increased mosquito activity and the possibility of West Nile virus transmission in a fictional community. They present the fictional community with ways to prevent infection.
Biodiversity and Human Health–Vector-borne Disease (SEPA)
© 2010 Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University. Traveling Viruses is part of a larger curriculum unit, which explores Lyme disease and West Nile virus. In Traveling Viruses, students simulate disease transmission with a sodium carbonate solution. To carry it a step further, they simulate the natural world, with half the class representing birds and the other half mosquitoes. This helps students develop an understanding of how birds, mosquitoes, and the West Nile virus are related.
BAM! Body and Mind: Stalking SARS: CDC at Work
SAFER·HEALTHIER·PEOPLE™, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Follow the investigators to track down SARS and where it spread.
Understanding Evolution: Tracking SARS Back to Its Source
© 2011 by The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California. This site explains how scientists reconstructed the evolutionary history of the SARS virus in order to better understand emerging diseases. Discussion questions are provided.
CDC: Rabies
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP). Through a series of questions, students learn what rabies is and how they could get the disease. They discover how to tell if an animal has rabies, and what to do if an animal bites you. There is an opportunity for students to test their memory with an online quiz.
EXCITE! Science Ambassador: Rabies–The Global Connection
SAFER·HEALTHIER·PEOPLE™, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Excellence in Curriculum Innovation through Teaching Epidemiology and the Science of Public Health (EXCITE). Students explore the local and global impact of rabies, learn about prevention and treatment of the disease, and share this information with their school through a poster.
Paralyzing Polio
© 1998 WGBH. A SCIENCE ODYSSEY. ON THE EDGE. This comic, set in 1954, describes a child in an iron lung, Dr. Salk’s and Dr. Sabin’s vaccines, and how the polio vaccine works.
The Curse of the Tree-Man HD (SEPA)
© 2011, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Explore HPV biology through a graphic story. Learn how HPV attacks the body and creates a runaway infection. This is based on the true story of Dede, an Indonesian fisherman, who was transformed into the Tree-Man by HPV. An American doctor discovers the cause of Dede’s illness and proposes a cure. Learn about HPV transmission, prevention, and risk factors by playing an interactive card game. Download “Attack of the P Virus” and discover entertaining and quirky facts about HPV. Open the virus to see inside and learn about the parts. This app includes an essay and 30-minute radio documentary.
