Introductory Paper

Description

In this unit, students will investigate all aspects of the spread of disease.  They will learn the difference between fungi, bacteria and viruses and how to distinguish between them.  The spread of disease is explored through computer simulations and classroom activities, such as the pipe cleaner activity in which students will make and model a virus.  Students learn about practices they can implement to help prevent bacteria from infecting their communities. During the unit, transmission of disease is discussed and the students do an activity through shaking hands that shows how physical contact can spread disease. Lessons will involve math by evaluating the growth rate, population size and other statistics looking at exponential and logarithmic patterns in the spread of disease.  In addition, the students will all collect a sample from around the school with a swab and then plate it on a petri dish. After incubation, students will collect data and make observations.  The results will be analyzed and discussed as a class.  A major focus of the unit will involve a group project in which students will be allowed to pick a topic of their choice and develop an in-depth study of the subject matter keeping within the area of disease. The students will do research to find out more about disease using online literature searches. At the end of the project, students will present their results and findings to the community ,students, health officials and faculty to bring awareness of and find ways we can reduce the spread of disease.

Driving Question

How does disease spread?

Goals

• Find number patterns
• Discover a formula for the number pattern
• Make a chart based on the formula
• Graph the equation on grid paper
• Find probabilities
• Write probabilities as a fraction or as a ratio
• Understand how probabilities change as objects are removed from the total
• Discuss how probabilities remain unchanged when objects are put in a different order or mixed around

Objectives

Students will gain an understanding of disease, how it spreads throughout a population, and what can be done to prevent and control diseases. At the end of this project, students will share their knowledge with the community as well as Public School Health Officials.

Rationale

How many times per day do you touch a door handle? How many times per day do you use a public bathroom? There are millions of bacteria on any given object and these bacteria are passed around as easily as shaking hands with someone or flushing the toilet. With the recent threats caused by influenza, meningitis, and SARS, the spread of disease has become a worldwide concern. In January/February 2004 the University Health Services at the University of Texas gave out free influenza shots to all students and faculty. This clearly states the severity of the spread of influenza throughout the university campus as well as the community.

In this project students will collect bacterial samples from around their own schools. The diseases collected from their own environment will help students grasp the importance of preventing the spread of disease. The results discovered by the students will be shared with local health administrators in order to address the problem of disease spreading throughout their schools. Students will meet with health officials in order to come up with a plan of action to promote awareness of disease and to promote other forms of disease prevention with ultimate goal being a healthy school environment.

Mathematics Background

            The first mathematics lesson,   Exponential Epidemic, demonstrates how diseases spread exponentially. The teacher should recall that an exponential function contains an exponent in the formula. As the exponent increases, the slope of the line rapidly increases. The graph of an exponential function looks like half an archway and has a large increase in slope. The teacher should practice graphs with various exponents and notice the way in which a disease with such an exponent would spread. The second mathematics lesson, Probability of Catching a Disease, involves statistics using probability to describe the chances of catching a disease. The teacher should recall that probability is part over a whole and can be written as a fraction, ratio, or percent. This lesson does not use percents, but does include both fractions and ratios to state the given probability of catching a particular disease. The teacher should know that probability is generalizable meaning that if something happens 1 out of 10 times, then it should happen 10 out of 100 times.

Science Background

The following two lessons, Introduction to the Microbial World and On the Microbe Trail: An Introduction to Bacteria and Aseptic Technique, are two hands-on lessons that give 10^th grade biology students a chance to learn about the infection of microbes and the spread of disease in an interactive and interesting way.  The following lessons describe in detail what the lessons consist of, but in order to conduct these lessons, one may need to "brush up" on past knowledge concerning microbiology.  In the first lesson, the teacher needs to have a basic, yet firm knowledge of the characteristics of microbes (such as their structure, where they grow, and how they grow).  This lesson also requires knowledge on different disinfecting techniques and their differences.  More information can be found in the high school teacherÕs manual.  The second lesson is a bit more complicated, mainly because of different techniques used in a college-level microbiology lab.  The teacher needs to know how to collect microbial samples, streak a Petri plat with the sample, how to use incubators and correctly incubate samples, and how to interpret these results.  Answers to some questions may be found in the book Biology Teacher's Survival Guide: Tips, Techniques & Materials for Success in the Classroom by Michael F. Fleming   This book is available online or at your nearest bookstore.

Standards Addressed

(3) The student understands there are situations modeled by functions that are neither linear nor quadratic and models the situations. Following are performance descriptions.

(A) The student uses patterns to generate the laws of exponents and applies them in problem-solving situations.

(B) The student analyzes data and represents situations involving inverse variation using concrete models, tables, graphs, or algebraic methods.

(C) The student analyzes data and represents situations involving exponential growth and decay using concrete models, tables, graphs, or algebraic methods.

Algebra I

(a) Basic understandings.

(1)  Foundation concepts for high school mathematics. As presented in Grades K-8, the basic understandings of number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry; measurement; and probability and statistics are essential foundations for all work in high school mathematics. Students will continue to build on this foundation as they expand their understanding through other mathematical experiences.

Algebra II

(a) Basic understandings.

(1) Foundation concepts for high school mathematics. As presented in Grades K-8, the basic understandings of number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry; measurement; and probability and statistics are essential foundations for all work in high school mathematics. Students continue to build on this foundation as they expand their understanding through other mathematical experiences.

Assessments

 

 The formative assessments will be given throughout the unit in the form of homework assignments, lab write-ups, and assessments listed below. There are two summative assessments at the end of the unit: a final project and a test.

 

Empty Outlines: Students can arrange all of their knowledge in this assessment. This will help students better organize the information they have learned as well as help teachers find out how well students have understood the subject matter. 

 

Minute Paper: This assessment will be good for students since it forces students to recap on what they have done and to also think further about what questions they still have.

 

The Analytic Memo: This assessment can be used near the end of our unit as an assessment in which students will write a one-page analysis on the cost of treating infections versus the cost of vaccinating the population. This memo will be written to the State Health Board, which decides what to spend tax dollars on. Students will be required to include facts and statistics in their memo.

 

Content, Form and Function Outlines: This assessment could be used to evaluate an article on disease or any new technology found having to do with bacterial or viral infections. This assessment can evaluate if the student understood the content that they read and the purpose of the article. Because scientific articles are sometimes difficult to understand this assessment would be very helpful.

 

Categorizing Grid: This assessment will be a useful classroom assessment technique in which students will have to sort similar objects concerning disease, spread of disease, and methods of treatment together. This method of sorting will force students to recall what they have learned and connect ideas of different concepts that they otherwise wouldn't think have any kind of connection.

 

One-Sentence Summary: This assessment can be used by students to answer who, what, where, when, how, and why diseases spread. The teacher will be able to assess which areas the students have a firm understanding of and which areas the students are struggling with.

 

Word Journal: This assessment would force students to put together all information learned from a given day/week and would help the students in connecting seemingly different concepts together. Getting the bigger picture can often keep the student focused on the key information and the word journal is a great assessment for this purpose.

 

Application Cards: This assessment could be used in our project very easily and be very productive. Our unit can be applied to real world ideas in every lesson and it is a great idea to have students think about real world applications. This assessment gives the students an opportunity to place the knowledge that they learn in a category and correlate it to something in real life.

 

Project Rubric	Possible Points	Points Earned
Homework (4 pts each)	20
Quizzes(5 pts each)	20
Lab -Participation (5 pts) -Write-Up (15 pts)	20
Final Project -Presentation (10 pts) -Write-Up (10 pts)	20
Test	20