Event-Based
Science is a new way to teach middle
school science. It is an award-winning,
standards-based program in which
newsworthy events establish the relevance
of science topics; authentic tasks create
the need-to-know more about those topics;
and lively interviews, photographs, Web
pages, and inquiry-based science
activities create a desire to know more
about those topics.
Outbreak!
is an Event-Based Science module about
disease. It uses the outbreak of the
Ebola
virus that struck Kikwit, Zaire (now called Republic
of Congo) in 1995,
to establish the
context for exploring related concepts.
The task in
Outbreak!
brings the study of diseases much closer
to home. It turns students into
concerned citizens of a small U.S. town
that is being struck by a fatal
respiratory disease. Students
track patients, examine lab reports, and
put together the pieces of a real-world
puzzle to find the cause of the disease
and recommend ways to prevent its
spread.
There is a problem with the
Discovery File about Tuberculosis on page 21 of the
Student Edition. All people listed in the TG on
page 5 do have TB. The Outbreak! task is based on a
true case history with only the names and location
changed. The discovery file should say that it
takes a positive x-ray or a positive sputum
test to confirm the diagnosis of TB. The sputum
test is more sensitive. It picks up positives that
are missed by the x-ray, but it takes longer. Note
that the positives picked up by the x-ray have not
been tested further.
(Since a positive skin test
means nothing, it wasn't even conducted for most
patients.)
Thanks to Tara Evans, 7th
grade teacher at Rocky Hill Middle School,
Clarksville, MD for catching this
error.
A "pdf" file containing web
sites, books, material lists, and correlations with
National Science Education Standards.
Use the
BACK button in your browser to return to
this page.
Deaths from bird flu may be
warning us of a possible worldwide epidemic.
Doctors and scientists around the world are
worried. The World Health Organization (WHO) fears that
this dangerous disease may mutate and become
infectious from person to person. Check here
for the latest news on the spread of this
deadly disease.
At the 2004 NSTA Eastern
Regional Convention in Richmond, a teacher who
uses Outbreak! every year described a problem.
She told us that because she teaches in a small
community the younger brothers and sisters of former
students come to her excited about the Outbreak!
unit, but they already know who brought the disease into
the community.
In response to this single request, we
have created a complete new set of Patient Profiles and
Lab Reports for you to use.
To get your copy of each in
PDF format
please click here:
Patient
Profiles
Descriptions of 15 patients and their symptoms.
Lab Reports
Sequential Lab Reports for use in diagnosing the
disease that strikes your community.
If you use
these new profiles and reports and would like to know
which new patient brings the disease into the community.
Please email us at webmaster@ebsinstitute.com
. Send us your name and the name of your school. Use a
school-based email account. We do not want to give
the answer to students.
As with all Event-Based
Science modules, much of the information that
students need is provided in the pages of
Outbreak!. However, more information is
needed. Specific information about disease and
disease-causing organisms is available at the
World-Wide Web sites below. Click on the
highlighted words and be linked with sites where
this helpful information can be found.
Links to Outbreak!
related WEB Sites
(Links are checked monthly. They were working
on the day of the last update.)
Centers
for Disease Control and
PreventionCDC serves as the national focus for
developing and applying disease prevention and
control, environmental health, and health
promotion and education activities designed to
improve the health of the people of the United
States.
MEDLINEplus
is a goldmine of good health information from
the world's largest medical library, the
National Library of Medicine.
MSRA
is the antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria that is now
killing more Americans each year than AIDS — 100,000
infections leading to 19,000 deaths in 2005, according to
estimates in The Journal of the American Medical
Association. This article explains how our food supply
may be the cause of MRSA!
Monkeypox
Monkeypox is an emerging viral disease
in North America. Basic information
about Monkeypox from the CDC is
available at this site.
SARS
This link takes you to the latest
search results about SARS (Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome) at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Smallpox
A CDC site with all of the latest
information about smallpox.
CDC
West Nile Virus Home
Page Using 2000 and 2001 West Nile Virus
data that were provided by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) the National Atlas created great
map products.
Ebola
Information A CDC site with all of the latest
information about the Ebola
virus.
Traveler's
Health
Health information on different travel
destinations. What to know before you
go.
American
Lung Association Home
Page
From their main page, you can find
information on lung cancer,
tuberculosis, emphysema and A1AD
related emphysema, pneumonia,
sarcoidosis, HIV/AIDS and lung disease,
and influenza.
Electron
Micrograph of the Ebola Virus
PARASITIC
WORMS This CDC
SITE contains everything you ever wanted to know
about parasitic worms.
Johns
Hopkins: ABX GuideThe
Antibiotic Guide is a "decision support tool"
intended to provide doctors with information about the
diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. The
information is arranged so that it is useful at the point
of care, instantly. Although this site is for doctors it
can be helpful to the "physician" on your task
teams too. Free registration is required.
Changing
the face of Medicine
Discover the many ways that women have
influenced and enhanced the practice of
medicine. The individuals featured on this
National Library of Medicine site provide a
glimpse of the community of women doctors who
are making a difference.
Outbreak!
is an Event-Based Science module about
disease. It uses the outbreak of the
Ebola
virus that struck Kikwit, Zaire (now called Republic
of Congo) in 1995,
to establish the
context for exploring related concepts.
Click
here to use Google News to search and
browse 4,500 continuously updated news
sources for breaking news about
respiratory diseases and Ebola.
