Learning In a Pandemic: Infection Detection Unit in Middle School STEM
In any year other than 2020, most people would not bat an eye at a unit in STEM class called “Infection Detection.” But, it is 2020, and more than a few parents’ ears have perked up to their students’ descriptions of their class project.
“Believe it or not, this is not a new unit,” laughed Samantha Hendrickson, middle school STEM teacher. “This is a unit we would normally do as part of the Project Lead the Way program we use in Wesleyan’s STEM program. With the reality of COVID, this year, students can certainly relate to the unit in a way they could not have in previous school years!”
Students in Mrs. Hendrickson’s class begin by learning modes of transmission for common communicable diseases and investigate effective precautions to prevent the spread of communicable illnesses. Then, students must analyze “patient” data to determine what unknown pathogen is spreading through a fictitious school. The students track the pathogen as others are infected, catalog the symptoms each ill person presents, and ultimately, they try to identify the mysterious illness that is impacting the community. Working through the Design Process, students then create a model path of transmission and use their data to communicate a plan to prevent further spread of the disease.
“This is a great unit in any school year,” said Hendrickson. “Students learn how to capture data in Excel, how to decode the data, and what conclusions we can make as we systematically work through what data tells us. This year, students have an even greater sense of context for what this can look like in real life, given all they have been exposed to as our nation fights a pandemic. The fact that we can work through this unit in the midst of a pandemic is something that I’m sure will make this an unforgettable project for students.”
“I was surprised that we were working on a mystery infection spreading when we are right in the middle of a global pandemic,” said Nolan Penson ’27 about his experience with this project. “Scientists are looking for the path of transmission of COVID-19, and we were doing the same thing in class for a mystery illness.”
In addition to learning how to work with data, students are also exposed to a variety of careers. “When I taught units like this in the past, I have had to really explain to students what an epidemiologist does,” said Hendrickson. “This year, that hasn’t been much of an issue as they are seeing them in the news all the time right now. But, this does give students an idea of what infectious disease doctors and public health professionals do and why they are an essential part of the fabric of our community.”
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Students in Mrs. Hendrickson’s class begin by learning modes of transmission for common communicable diseases and investigate effective precautions to prevent the spread of communicable illnesses. Then, students must analyze “patient” data to determine what unknown pathogen is spreading through a fictitious school. The students track the pathogen as others are infected, catalog the symptoms each ill person presents, and ultimately, they try to identify the mysterious illness that is impacting the community. Working through the Design Process, students then create a model path of transmission and use their data to communicate a plan to prevent further spread of the disease.
“This is a great unit in any school year,” said Hendrickson. “Students learn how to capture data in Excel, how to decode the data, and what conclusions we can make as we systematically work through what data tells us. This year, students have an even greater sense of context for what this can look like in real life, given all they have been exposed to as our nation fights a pandemic. The fact that we can work through this unit in the midst of a pandemic is something that I’m sure will make this an unforgettable project for students.”
“I was surprised that we were working on a mystery infection spreading when we are right in the middle of a global pandemic,” said Nolan Penson ’27 about his experience with this project. “Scientists are looking for the path of transmission of COVID-19, and we were doing the same thing in class for a mystery illness.”
In addition to learning how to work with data, students are also exposed to a variety of careers. “When I taught units like this in the past, I have had to really explain to students what an epidemiologist does,” said Hendrickson. “This year, that hasn’t been much of an issue as they are seeing them in the news all the time right now. But, this does give students an idea of what infectious disease doctors and public health professionals do and why they are an essential part of the fabric of our community.”
