This course for gifted students grades 5-7 teaches mechanisms of disease, medical concepts, logical reasoning, experimental design, statistical analysis, and epidemiological investigation, culminating in a medical mystery: an illness outbreak at the State Fair.
Making a PBL Mystery: Build Those Bones
Set the Scene in PBL
Problem-based learning may be open-ended and ill-structured, but problem scenarios require well-defined characters, plot, and setting. Setting the scene right–with high-stakes, high-impact specifics–helps students understand the importance of the conundrum they’re about to tackle. What elements are key to your scenarios?
Paths of Pathogens: Take Charge of that Petting Zoo!
This post provides video and other materials for teaching a lesson on pathogen paths and public health. This lesson is excerpted from an eight-lesson unit on disease, medicine, and epidemiology for gifted elementary and middle school students. This activity is the precursor to students tackling a medical mystery of illness at the State Fair.
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