Download Historical Diseases and Epidemics

Diseases and Epidemics
Title: Diseases and Epidemics
Grade Level: 9-12
Subject/Content: Science/Biology
Summary of Lesson: Students gain knowledge of historical outbreaks of disease
and how such outbreaks can be prevented in the present day.
Focus Question: Why were historical diseases so devastating? What can we do to
prevent outbreaks from occurring in the present time?
Databases: Science in Context
Procedures
Teacher Preparation/Planning
1. Direct students to read the following article. As they read, direct them
to create and define a list of relevant terms, for example, epidemic,
pandemic, plague, etiology, pathogen, vector, etc.
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“Epidemics and pandemics.” (World of Microbiology and
Immunology. Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner.
Detroit: Gale, 2009. Gale Science in Context.
GALE|CV2644650154)
2. Break students into small groups. Direct each group to create a chart
outlining the following:
 Biological vectors of infectious disease
 Demographic conditions contributing to outbreaks
 Sanitation/water quality issues contributing to outbreaks
 Disease prevention measures
3. Have groups share their charts.
4. Instruct students to choose a disease for further research. At a
minimum, the research should include the following:
 Historical context of the condition
 Symptoms
 Long-term effects
 Disease-causing organism and how it affects the body
 Mode of transmission from person to person
 Whether and how the disease has traveled from one region to
another
 Ways to prevent the disease (and/or how the disease has been
reduced/eliminated)
 Treatments for the disease, if any
Suggested diseases for further research:
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African sleeping
sickness
Anthrax
Bubonic plague
Chagas disease
Chicken pox
Cholera
Dengue fever
Diphtheria
Ebola
Botulism
Food poisoning from
staphylococcus
Gonorrhea
H1N1 influenza
Hepatitis C
Influenza (A or other
subtype)
Lassa fever
Legionnaires'
disease/Pontiac
Fever
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Leprosy
Lyme disease
Malaria
Measles
Meningitis
Meningococcal
disease
Mumps
Polio
Rabies
Rubella
Salmonella infection
Shingles
Smallpox
Syphilis
Tetanus
Tuberculosis
Typhoid fever
Typhus fever
Whooping cough
Yell
ow fever
5. Direct students to write a short report on their chosen disease.
6. Each student should design a “Wanted” poster depicting the diseasecausing organism (posters may indicate whether the disease has been
“Captured” or is “Still at Large”). The poster should include sections of
text addressing each of the points above.
7. Have the groups share their posters with the class or display them in
the room/hall.
Steps/Activities by Students
1. Access and read assigned article on the causes of epidemics and
pandemics.
2. As a group, create a chart outlining the causes of historical epidemics.
3. Share your charts with the class.
4. Choose an infectious disease for further research using Science in
Context. Write a brief report.
5. Create an informative “Wanted” poster detailing how the disease has
been or can be prevented.
6. Share your poster with the class.
Outcome: Students will identify the causes and effects of historical disease
outbreaks. They will research a current or historical infectious disease and
summarize what they have learned via a written report and an informational poster.
Related Activities
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Global Studies
o Introduce additional information on the history of disease(s). Have
students work on projects such as timelines.
o Explore specific diseases in more detail using a historical, geographic,
or cultural focus (e.g., contact between Europe and the Americas,
European plagues, the building of the Panama Canal, tropical
diseases).
English
o Have students read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.”
Discuss the historical timeframe in which this story was written and
the symbolic nature of the writing.
Standards Alignment
Next Generation Science Standards
HS-LS1.SEP.3.1. Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable
evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations,
models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and
laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will
continue to do so in the future. (HS-LS1-6)
HS-LS2.CC.2.1. The significance of a phenomenon is dependent on the scale,
proportion, and quantity at which it occurs. (HS-LS2-1)
ESS3.DCI.B:1. Natural hazards and other geologic events have shaped the course of
human history; [they] have significantly altered the sizes of human populations and
have driven human migrations. (HS-ESS3-1)
Standard Source: Next Generation Science Standards (2013)
Common Core State Standards
Grades 9-10
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a
text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or
concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3
Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure
when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks
attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms,
and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific
or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.5
Analyze the structure of the relationships among
concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction,
reaction force, energy).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.7
Translate quantitative or technical information
expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate
information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.9
Compare and contrast findings presented in a
text to those from other sources (including their own experiments), noting when the
findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.10
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend
science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and
proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to
produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage
of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information
flexibly and dynamically.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7 Conduct short, as well as more sustained
research projects, to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or
solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize
multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time
for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two)
for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Grades 11-12
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a
text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by
paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.3
Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure
when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical
tasks; analyze the specific results based on explanations in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.4
Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms,
and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific
or technical context relevant to grades 11-12 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.5
Analyze how the text structures information or
ideas into categories or hierarchies, demonstrating understanding of the information
or ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of
information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video,
multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.8
Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and
conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and
corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.9
Synthesize information from a range of sources
(e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process,
phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend
science/technical texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and
proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.2a Introduce a topic and organize complex ideas,
concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it
to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures,
tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.2b Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the
most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's
knowledge of the topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to
produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to
ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.7 Conduct short, as well as more sustained
research projects, to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or
solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize
multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time
for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two)
for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Source: Common Core State Standards Initiative (2010)