Communicating About Communicable Diseases!

Th1 05 2012

Source: amandasolarsh

Summary Information

Keywords:

disease, bacteria. virus, communicable, non-communicable, public service announcement (PSA), symptoms, epidemic

Topic:

Biology

Target Grade (Ages):

Grade 7 (Ages 12-13)

Grade 8 (Ages 13-14)

Grade 9 (Ages 14-15)

Estimated Time Required:

5-8 hours

Diversity Indicators:

This lesson plan is suitable for all learners and encourages students to conduct research and be creative while working in a group setting.

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LESSON

Goals and Prerequisites

Goals:

Students will:

Learn about communicable diseases and how they spread
Produce a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on a chosen disease.

Prerequisites:

Students should:

Have a basic understanding of the following human body systems: Respiratory, Circulatory, Digestive, and Immune
Know the definitions and differences between bacteria and viruses
Have a basic understanding of the program Microsoft Photostory and the use of flip cameras/digital cameras (filming and uploading video).

Instructional Objective(s)

Students will be able to:

Define and differentiate between communicable and non-communicable diseases
Research/identify the cause (bacteria or virus), symptoms, methods of transmission, environmental factors and impact of a chosen disease
Discuss methods of prevention and possible cures
Create and develop a script for a Public Service Announcement
Collaborate and produce a Public Service Announcement using flip cameras, digital cameras, or the program Microsoft Photostory.

Instructional Resources

Background:

Definitions

Non-communicable disease: Disease that does not spread.
Communicable disease: Disease that spreads from one person to another. Communicable diseases can be caused by a bacteria or a virus. Bacterial diseases can be treated with antibiotics, while the spread of viral diseases can be prevented with vaccines.
Antibiotic: A type of medicine that kills microbes or prevents them from growing.
Vaccine: Substance that protects a person from a disease.
Epidemic: Outbreak of disease that spreads rapidly to many people.

Spread of Disease

Methods of transmission: Droplet transmission, coughing, sneezing, hand to hand contact, insects
Environmental conditions that affect the spread of disease: Polluted water (flooding, sewage overflow), poor hygiene, unsafe food, overpopulation, flooding, etc.

Diseases students can choose

H1N1
Flu
Small pox
Avian flu
Cholera
Malaria
Typhoid fever
Dengue fever
Others that the students choose

Technology

Knowledge of at least one of the following technology methods for students to create PSAs:

Microscoft Photostory program
Flip camera
Digital cameras

*If these technologies are not available, students can have the option of using a smartphone.

Glo-Germ Powder (Day 1: Brainstorm Activity)

Glo Germ powder is a white powder that is only visible with a Black light. We put this powder on a white stuffed animal and the students pass it around to one another as they brainstorm ideas while they are unknowingly spreading the powder to one another representing the spread of disease. After the students share answers, you turn off the lights and shine the portable blacklight. Students will be able to see how the powder spread to one another. If Glo-Germ powder or blacklights are unavailable, another option is to use baby powder or glitter.

Materials:

Readings about each disease (See External Resources)
Computers with internet access and the program Photostory (one for each group)
Flip Cameras/Digital cameras (one for each group)
Glo-Germ Powder or substitute
Stuffed animal
Black light
Communicable vs. Non-Communicable Disease Organizer (DOC)
Communicable Disease Organizer (DOC)
Tuberculosis Reference Sheet (DOC)
Template for Public Service Announcement (DOC)
PSA Peer Evaluation Sheet (DOC)
Communicating about Communicable Diseases Rubric (DOC)
Extension Activity: Engineering Pure Water (optional)

Procedure:

DAY 1: SPREAD OF DISEASE

Step 1: Pre-lesson discussion

Post the following questions on the board and have students respond.

Why do we get sick?
What are some things we do that causes us to get sick?

Step 2: Brainstorm Activity

Have students pass around the stuffed animal (which has been covered in Glo-Germ powder before class). As each student gets the animal, they have to share out something that makes people sick.

Step 3: Expose the Blacklight

Shine the blacklight. Students see how powder was passed from one person to another. Discuss how powder represents how germs are transferred from one person to another.

Step 4: Communicable vs. Non-Communicable Disease Organizer

Give students definitions for communicable and non-communicable disease and have students generate a list of diseases and sort them into the right category in partners. (You can also provide students with a list of diseases and have them sort them into the appropriate categories.)

Step 5: Wrap Up Questions

Have students discuss the following questions after reviewing the definition for epidemic.

What are some environmental conditions that can affect the spread of disease? (Think about why some diseases are epidemics in certain countries.)
What are some ways we can stop communicable diseases from spreading?

Homework Extension Activity (optional): Engineering Pure Water worksheet

Engineering Pure Water worksheet (DOC)

DAY2: RESEARCHING COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Step 1: Pre-lesson discussion

Post the definition for symptom on the board and have students respond to and discuss the following questions.

How do you know when you are sick?
What are some symptoms you experience?

Step 2: Assign a Communicable Disease

Divide students into groups of four. You may want to view this video on Groups for more information.

Group Work video

Using the Disease Organizer,provide readings on their disease and fill out the information. Teachers can either assign students a given disease or have students choose their own. Teachers also can provide readings on each disease from or have students research their disease on the own using the following websites:

kidshealth.org/Search01.jsp
www.cdc.gov
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001646/

Step 3: Research

Provide students with a laptop and have them look up additional information and statistics on incidences of their disease. Use www.gapminder.org, www.cdc.org, and www.who.int as sources for students to use.

DAY 3- INTRODUCTION TO PSA LESSON

Step 1: Pre Lesson Discussion

Post the following questions and have students respond:

What types of things do you think belong in a Public Service Announcement (PSA)?
What are some types of information that you think the public needs to know about?

Step 2: Examples of PSAs

Show three examples of PSAs (below) and have students answer the following questions in their notebooks after each PSA.

What was the main idea of the PSA?
What did they use to send their message?
What was your emotional response?

www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=102693
www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=7495&title=Break_the_Silence__Teen_Suicide_PSA
www.schooltube.com/video/bd617345ee604744b9e1/Flu-PSA

Step 3: Review

Review with students the following tools of PSA that the examples showed:

Tone
Emotional Words
Powerful visuals

Step 4: Brainstorming

Break students into groups and give students the PSA template to begin brainstorming ideas for their script and visuals.

DAY 4: USE OF STATISTICS IN PSAs

Step 1: Pre-lesson discussion

Post the following statistic on the board: “Every 7 minutes, a child is bullied.”

Discuss why this is a more powerful way of grabbing people’s attention about the issue of bullying instead of just saying “Bullying is a big problem in schools.”

Step 2: Statistics Discussion

Review three examples of PSAs from the day before and how they used statistics.

Step 3: Review and Analyze Statistics of Tuberculosis

Have students in their groups review Tuberculosis Reference Sheet and fill in Comparing Statistics of Disease sheet (in the back of their Communicable Disease Organizer).

Give each group a laptop to enable them to create a graph of data of tuberculosis in the U.S., Ghana, India, Italy, and Mexico using the Create a Graph Website, using information from http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/

Step 4: Post-Lesson Discussion

Have students discuss or answer on an exit slip the following questions.

How did looking at statistics help you understand how tuberculosis is affecting different countries?
Why are statistics a powerful tool to use in a PSA?

DAY 5: SCRIPTWRITING AND STORYBOARDING

Students will use information from their PSA template to create a full script and storyboard to show what they will say in their PSA and what it will look like. It should follow the PSA rubric.

DAY 6 AND 7: FILMING/CREATING PSA

Students will create a PSA either filming with a flipcam/digital camera or using the computer program PhotoStory to create a PSA. It should follow the PSA rubric to ensure they include all required elements.

DAY 8: SHARING PSAs

Groups will share their PSAs with the class, and students will answer the following questions after each group presents. Each person will fill out a PSA Peer Evaluation Sheet of each groups work answering the following questions.

Extensions

To incorporate an additional literacy extension activity, students can write an essay on the importance of PSAs, and they can recommend how to communicate about diseases in countries that do not have access to televisions, internet, or other technologies.

After Day 1, for homework, students can research ways engineers develop water purification systems to prevent the spread of disease in polluted water as an optional extension activity.

Assessments and Rubrics

Students will be assessed on all of the work (organizers, PSA Script, PSA Film, and group work) completed during this activity. The point break down is listed in the Communicating about Communicable Disease Rubric.

Communicating about Communicable Disease Rubric (DOC)

You may want to view this video on Asking Good Questions to help with assessment.

Asking Good Questions Video

External Resources

Websites with information on different communicable diseases

kidshealth.org/Search01.jsp
www.cdc.gov
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001646/

Webistes with information on disease statistics

Examples of PSAs

www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=102693
www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=7495&title=Break_the_Silence__Teen_Suicide_PSA
http://www.schooltube.com/video/bd617345ee604744b9e1/Flu-PSA

Create- a- Graph Websitences.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/

Credits

Thumbnail image - http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrowassoc/3914916754/
Communicable vs. Non-communicable Disease and Pass the Germ activity- "Good Friends, Bad Germs" from Project Based Inquiry Science. It's About Time Inc.
Template for Public Service Announcement- 7th Grade Science Department at Simon Baruch Middle School
Rest of lesson was designed by Amanda Solarsh

RESOURCES