Overview
We’re facing a global pandemic. Some people are working hard and making sacrifices to keep others safe. You’re sacrificing and protecting people right now, by staying home, away from others and practicing “social distancing.” This week’s package is designed for you to explore and learn about how things like viruses spread, how scientists fight diseases, and why social distancing is important. This field of study is called epidemiology.
Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations. The basic premise of epidemiology is that the cause of a disease results in higher rates of the illness in those that have been exposed to the cause than in those who have not been exposed. And thus, one can look for the commonalities in those who are infected when searching for the cause. Epidemiology serves as the theoretical foundation and cornerstone methodology of public health research. Computer simulations are used in the field of epidemiology to study the spread of diseases and the outcomes of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine.
In this package, you will have the opportunity to use, modify, and create your own model of a contagion spreading through a community. You will learn about how disease spreads, and why social distancing matters. There are also interviews by experts in the field, articles and a community of learners to engage with as you build your models. After you’re done exploring, we’d love to hear from you! Share your models, your thoughts, and your ideas in the weekly forums.
Full STEAM Ahead!
This week, we have three experts here to help us understand different aspects of this week’s topic. Dr. Peter Senge studies complex systems and the way humans impact our environment. Prof. Seth Mnookin is a science writer who has written extensively on vaccines and epidemiology. Prof. Ruben Juanes is a scientist who among many topics of fluid dynamics studies transportation and the spread of disease.
How do I figure out what knowledge I should be paying attention to?
What is a pandemic?
How does transportation impact the spread of disease?
What are some ways to slow the spread of disease?
Importance of hand washing
Herd immunity and social distancing
Why do experts use modeling?
The power of modeling
How do we learn from modeling? (Watch from 5:34-10:20) and Systems and epidemics: our impact (Watch from 10:21-11:18)
How do scientists figure out what may happen? (Watch from 7:13 to end)
Where are some places we could find hope in our current situation?
Activities:
Activity 1: Things That Spread
Activity 2: Sometimes But Not Always
Activity 3: Why You Staying Home Matters
Challenges:
Explore a simulation in Scratch
Now that you know more about how disease spreads, explore this simulation. This is a simulation of the spread of an epidemic. A blue circle is a healthy person, a red circle is a sick person, and a green circle is a person who has recovered after being sick.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/376656449
Use the slider to control what percentage of the population stays at home, then click the Green Flag. The graph shows how the number of sick people changes over time. If you find that the simulation doesn’t work, try refreshing the page! Still having trouble? Trying opening it up on the Scratch website by clicking the link above.
With an adult or older brother/ sister, try changing the code to see what happens if:
- There are more people in the community
- The virus spreads sometimes, but not always when one person comes in contact with another person
- Sick people recover more quickly—or more slowly
Tell us what you tried out and what you learned in the forum!
Challenge: Make your own animation in Scratch Jr.
Tell us your story in an animation. You can share how you’ve been spending your time or all the things you’d like to do once you can go out again or you can make a game for your friends to play.
You can download Scratch Jr here.
Share your animation so we can all see it!
Forums:
Activities:
Activity 1: Things That Spread
Activity 2: Sometimes But Not Always
Activity 3: Social Distancing Matters
Challenges:
Explore a simulation in Scratch
Now that you know more about how disease spreads, explore this simulation. This is a simulation of the spread of an epidemic. A blue circle is a healthy person, a red circle is a sick person, and a green circle is a person who has recovered after being sick.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/376656449
Use the slider to control what percentage of the population stays at home, then click the Green Flag. The graph shows how the number of sick people changes over time. If you find that the simulation doesn’t work, try refreshing the page! Still having trouble? Trying opening it up on the Scratch website by clicking the link above.
Does changing the number of people that stay home change the shape of the graph? Tell us what you noticed and why that might be! You can share pictures of your simulation.
Remix this simulation
Try changing the code to see what happens if:
- There are more people in the community
- The virus spreads sometimes, but not always when one person comes in contact with another person
- Sick people recover more quickly—or more slowly
You can take an adult or older brother/ sister’s help if you get stuck.
Share your remix and tell us what you tried out!
Forums:
Activities:
Activity 1: It’s A Toss Up: Modeling The Spread of Disease (Part I)
Activity 2: It’s A Toss Up: Modeling The Spread of Disease (Part II)
Activity 3: Social Distancing Matters
Challenges:
Project GUTS’ COVID-19 Modeling Challenge
We are faced with a tremendous amount of news and information about COVID-19. One way to respond is to try to better understand the spread of coronavirus and strategies to contain its spread. For this challenge, model the spread of COVID-19 using StarLogo Nova.
MIT App Inventor Coronavirus App Challenge
The MIT App Inventor team invites creators and designers of all ages to create socially conscious mobile apps.
Forums:
Week 1 package is adapted from the NIH-MIDAS Modeling the Spread of Community MRSA curriculum developed by Irene Lee (2013).
The “It’s a Toss Up” game was adapted from Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) “2000 and Beyond: Confronting the Microbe Menace.” (1999)
The Toss Up NetLogo model was created by Irene Lee and Nick Bennett (2013).
For the modeling challenge for Grades 6-8, the citation is:
Copyright Project GUTS 2020.
All Project GUTS materials are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Activities:
Activity 1: It’s A Toss Up: Modeling The Spread of Disease (Part I)
Activity 2: It’s A Toss Up: Modeling The Spread of Disease (Part II)
Activity 3: It’s A Toss Up: Modeling The Spread of Disease (Part III)
Supplemental Materials (Open these for the activity)
Challenges:
Project GUTS’ COVID-19 Modeling Challenge
We are faced with a tremendous amount of news and information about COVID-19. One way to respond is to try to better understand the spread of coronavirus and strategies to contain its spread. For this challenge, model the spread of COVID-19 using StarLogo Nova.
MIT App Inventor Coronavirus App Challenge
The MIT App Inventor team invites creators and designers of all ages to create socially conscious mobile apps.