Infectious Disease: Evolving Challenges to Human Health
Rx for Survival: Disease Warriors
Overview of Activity
In this activity, students model a population that has a disease spreading through it. They will be playing a game of "Zap" where class members are killed off by being winked at discretely by the "zapper," representing someone who is carrying a virus. Some students will not be able to be killed off because they have a vaccine, but the zapper does not know that!
Activity Type: In Class Group Activity
URLs: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/series/teachers/
pdf/rx_guide_diseasewarriors.pdf
Grade Level: 7-12
Level of Difficulty: Introductory
Amount of Time Required for Activity: One – Two 40-minute Class Periods
Recommended Uses:
Prior to attending exhibit, this may be used as an activity to engage students in thinking about the impacts of vaccination on personal and communal health.
After visiting the exhibit, it may be used to reinforce and highlight the value of vaccination in public health.
Description
After viewing the series preview video and answering related questions, the class participates in a group activity simulating the importance of vaccines in disease prevention and protection.
The first activity that students will play is a game of freeze tag where the person who is "it" represents an infected individual and when students are tagged, they are then infected as well. In the second round of the game, some students are given cards that say "vaccinated" on them. They cannot be "frozen" when tagged by the person who is "it." This game is a good introduction for the impact of vaccines on the spread of a virus.
The second activity is a modified version of the game "Mafia" or "Killer." All of the students in the class are given cards that say "player," "vaccinated – cannot be zapped," and "zapper" on them. No one knows who the "zapper" is, but that student is responsible for "infecting" as many people in the class without letting others know who s/he is. They quickly find that some students are not being "infected" because they are vaccinated and it becomes a great starting point for a discussion about the importance of vaccination and herd immunity.
This activity was developed as a part ofa series called Rx for Survival by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
Relation to the Science Standards
Middle School and/or High School
Content Standard A - Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry
Content Standard F - Risks and benefits (middle school)
Content Standard F - Personal and Community Health
Related Part of the Exhibit
Global Distribution of Disease
Vaccines and Human Immunity
Additional Related Links
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/series/teachers/index.html
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