Lesson 3: Fight the Flu: Acting

Nov 19 2012

Source: NYSCI

Summary Information

Keywords:

Disease, influenza, innovation, mapping, seeing, data, visualization, system, evaluation

Topic:

Biology

Target Grade (Ages):

Grade 9 (Ages 14-15)

Grade 10 (Ages 15-16)

Grade 11 (Ages 16-17)

Grade 12 (Ages 17-18)

Estimated Time Required:

3-5 hours

Diversity Indicators:

This lesson is appropriate for all learners.

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LESSON

Goals and Prerequisites

Goals:

To allow students to use data they have collected and mapped to recommend and take specific actions related to disease prevention
To explore the process of evaluating tradeoffs when selecting which action to recommend.
To identify the roles and resources required to implement their proposal

Prerequisites:

Students should have completed the lessons “Fight the Flu: Seeing” and “Fight the Flu: Mapping” prior to this lesson.

Instructional Objective(s)

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

Use data and data maps to make specific recommendations about actions that can reduce the spread of influenza in their school
Articulate the evaluation process that must occur when making recommendations for specific action
Implement the recommended actions.

Instructional Resources

Background:

This lesson works best if students are allowed to implement some of the actions they recommend. For this reason, you may wish to give students constraints so that the actions they propose are more feasible (i.e. a cost or materials limit). Additionally, you should alert administrators and other teachers if your students will be implementing any large changes outside of the classroom. If students are not able to directly implement changes, you can invite school leaders to participate on a panel where students will present their recommendations.

At a minimum, this lesson requires three class periods, but can take longer depending upon the amount of time you wish to allot to parts 2 and 3. You can assign segments of the lesson as homework if you wish. Additionally, the lesson can be spread out over a period of weeks. For instance, if students are proposing involved actions or novel materials, you may wish to spend some time in between when students provide you with a project plan and materials list and when they implement their action in order to give you time to notify other educators or gather materials.

This lesson also requires students to provide feedback on each other’s work. If this is not something your students have done in the past, you may wish to spend time reviewing norms for giving and receiving feedback in a respectful and useful way.

Due to the open-ended nature of the lesson, different groups of students may require different amounts of support to select and refine a plan for action. Be sure to read through the lesson thoroughly and identify points where students may need help. You can schedule “project meetings” with specific groups to check-in on their progress. You could also have the class focus on just one action and work together to implement it rather than having smaller groups implementing multiple actions. Finally, you can always instruct students to return to their Innovation Worksheet from Lesson 1. Reviewing the process of innovation as it is laid out in the worksheet can help students focus in on the steps they will need to take to move their project forward.

Materials:

THINK App
Students will generate a list of materials needed to implement their recommendations
Copies of student generated project descriptions
Copies of the Project Evaluation Worksheet

THINK Fight the Flu Acting Project Evaluation Sheet

Procedure:

Part 1- Introductory Discussion

If necessary, review the conclusions generated by the class as part of the lesson “Fight the Flu: Mapping.”
Ask students to work in their small groups from the Mapping lesson to determine what types of actions they might recommend based on the information they mapped and the conclusions they have drawn from these maps. Although students should be encouraged to get creative, at this point you can provide constraints to promote feasible ideas. After about 10 minutes of brainstorming, come back as a whole class and share out ideas. Each group should be given three minutes to present their list. Responses might include:

Creating an informational campaign about hand washing and sneezing techniques that will be posted in areas frequented by large parts of the student body.
Changing the materials of door handles.
Replacing old lights switches with a motion sensor system so that nobody has to touch a light switch.
Placing hand sanitizer stations next to doors that are heavily used.

As groups share out their list of potential actions, instruct the other students to take notes on which ideas are strongest, and which could be strengthened. After the groups have shared, allow for a five-minute discussion period. Instruct the class to use their notes to provide constructive feedback and ask clarifying questions. This feedback should be used to help each group decide upon one specific action to pursue.

Part 2- Evaluating Action

Instruct the student groups to use the class feedback to select which recommendation they will continue with. Either in class or as homework, groups should write up their recommended action plan with as much specificity as possible. Their plan should include:

Associated cost
Materials list
Information about who would need to approve the selected action (Does this recommendation require approval from an administrator?)
Who would be needed to implement the action (Would a maintenance or other person need to be involved?) What are the barriers to implementation?
Specific references to the work done in the Seeing and Mapping lessons that clearly link the proposed action with a reduction in the spread of illness.
Information about how long the recommendation will last (Is it a single event, a permanent change, etc.?)
An ecosystem map that outlines the actors and resources involved in their solution (example: hand sanitizer at the doors of each classroom: PTA/budget, facilities/installation & upkeep, teachers/set example/create reminders, students/consumers)

After groups have completed their detailed project description, you should collect them.
In groups, ask students to select an example from the Understanding module of the THINK app. In their groups, ask students to discuss what steps might have occurred between people creating a model of an idea and that idea being adopted more widely. For example, in “Will the Plane Fly,” what steps needed to happen between the Wright brothers’ first flight and the common acceptance of planes as a mode of travel? Point out that the only way back then to test if the plane could fly was to actually try to fly it (and have accidents) rather than today’s modeling that allows for simulations.
Remind students that in order to take action, you need to inspire other people to believe that progress is possible. This involves communicating a clear action plan based on data in order to garner support. Additionally, before taking an action that is meant to affect the spread of illness in a school, it is important to consider the school as a system. Ask students what a system is. After eliciting a few responses, you can tell students that a system is a set of factors or parts that interact and relate to form a whole. Changing one part of a system can affect other parts of the system, so before taking action, you need to think about possible effects on other related factors. For example, placing hand sanitizer stations next to a doorway may reduce the spread of illness, but it might also slow down hallway traffic.
How does the work in the Seeing and Mapping lessons create understanding and shared belief that the recommendation is worth pursuing? If necessary, review videos created in the Introduction Lesson. How will approvers and students be inspired to take part in the proposal?
Tell the students that with this in mind, they will use the Project Evaluation Worksheet to evaluate each other’s recommendations. You should now redistribute the project plans so that each group has another group’s plan.
Allow students time to complete the worksheet. You can have students work in groups or individually. If done individually, you will have to make copies of the project descriptions.

Part 3- Action

At this point, students groups should be allowed to read the evaluation forms and use the feedback provided to refine their plan for action.
Groups should provide you with a list of materials they will need.
Students should now be given time to carry out their action plan under your supervision.

Part 4- Unit Wrap-Up

After students have completed their action plans, spend time reflecting on the SMUBA process as a whole. You can use the following questions to frame the discussion.

In this unit, “seeing” focused on fomites and the spread of illness from person to person. What other types of “seeing” could have informed this unit?
Was the mapping of information challenging? Why or why not?
How would the action plans have differed if students had not gone through the Seeing and Mapping lessons first?
How did thinking of the school as a system make creating an action plan more complex?
How could algorithms and advanced computing aid in navigating the complexity of systems?
How did students’ understanding of the term “innovation” change as they progressed through the unit?
How would students describe SMUBA to someone outside of the class?

Tell students to think back to the THINK Film and remember the many different examples of progress that were mentioned. Remind them that the SMUBA process relates to any discipline, not just science. Tell students to keep an eye out for this process in their other classes and in their daily lives.
Finally, ask students to revisit the Acting portion of the THINK app. Instruct them to spend a few minutes reviewing some of the examples of action they see. As a final reflection piece, ask students to imagine that their action will be added to the module and instruct them to write the text for their entry. Conclude the unit by emphasizing that the class used the SMUBA process to make change in their school and they can continue to act as innovators to improve their communities and even the world.

RESOURCES

Original Resources

Worksheets

THINK Fight the Flu Acting Project Evaluation Sheet

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