Adaptation 4: An Extension

Because of the reference to the movie by the same name, special needs students will need to clearly understand the biological blunders and poetic license taken by movie makers. This is the perfect time to discuss the validity of various forms of information through research using the Web as well as other sources.

As part of this project, each student will review a book (such as The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton) or review a related movie (such as Outbreak), and be assigned a disease to research - Ebola, HIV, chicken pox, malaria,etc. The report should focus on how the disease germs are identified, isolated, contracted, spread, and prevented. Students may choose to interview a public health provider about the disease under study.

Using facts they have gathered, each student should be prepared to compare and contrast different accounts of infectious disease outbreaks - fictional, non-fictional, tabloid, newspaper, interviews, TV scripts, and medical newsletters and Web sites.

After investigating the protocols for preventing the spread of their disease, students should select one of the following public health awareness items to develop: newsletter, brochure, speech, or poster. (Our brochures were copied and actually made available in the school nurses office for the student body. Students who selected this project also earned community service credit)

Internet Reference:

By visiting the web site for Science Web Goes to the Movies (www.scienceweb.org) and clicking on Outbreak The Ebola, the students can see actual clips from the movie and learn what intentional scientific errors were made in the movie. This site offers clear concise facts about what Ebola is, its causes, transmission,treatments, and information regarding the Reston strain of Ebola. Students may gather more information using the miscellaneous notes, glossary, summary and extensive list of related links provided.