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I challenge you to find the student that likes getting shots! This Minute will have your kids thinking about vaccines in a whole new way. |
English/Language Arts
Explore lead sentences - questions
Add this Minute to the list of those that begin with a question. Author Levinson’s question is short and to the point - and sets up the focus for the entire piece. See if your students have a piece in their writing journal that might benefit from experimenting with this technique, and have them give it a try.
Social Studies
Explore habeas corpus
This Minute introduces students to the idea of habeas corpus, a legal protection against a government's unlawful detainment or imprisonment. Have students investigate this concept. Challenge them to compile examples of the use of habeas corpus in history. As a culminating activity, set up a Paideia seminar to ask the big questions - is it ever okay for a government to detain people who have not broken any laws? If so, when? When, if ever, does the safety of a community outweigh the rights of an individual?
Explore US History - epidemic diseases
If your students examine the captions below the graphics included with this Minute, a practice in recognizing and effectively using nonfiction text features to increase comprehension, they will learn a tidbit about the influenza epidemic that gripped the United States and the world from 1918 to 1919. This was not the first time disease affected the US population. Have your students look at US history through the lens of contagious diseases, and then ask the bigger questions - how did the government react? How was the outbreak contained (or not)? What larger social outcomes could be traced back to outbreaks? Take a look at this timeline to provide some structure for study,
STEM
Explore biology - viruses and disease
How do we study viruses and disease? Get out those microscopes and send your students swabbing. What do they see? Which areas are more conducive to the growth of microscopic organisms? How do we classify and categorize what we see? How can we combat the growth of disease? What are the mechanisms that make vaccines effective?
Explore exponential growth
Contagious disease is a perfect way to look at the concept of exponential growth. Set up a 4 - 5 second timer. Every time the timer dings, you “pass the germ.” Start with linear growth. You stand. You carry the germ, but as you pass it to someone, you are no longer “contagious,” though still “infected” so you remain standing. You are now inert. Your now standing student passes to the next person - they stand. One at a time students stand and pass the germ. They can only pass once. This demonstrates linear growth. Measure how quickly the class became “infected.” Now for exponential growth. You “pass the germ” to a student (who stands), but you remain “contagious.” Now two of you are “contagious." You each pass to a student - and now there are three carriers of the germ. Each passes - we are up to six! As each student passes, all who have “received” can also pass. How quickly is the “germ” passed to everyone in the room? Chart and graph your examples. Have students transfer this concept by exploring areas where exponential growth might be significant.
Research Skills
Explore domain extensions - .org and .gov
An exploration of the US Constitution opens the opportunity to take a closer look at URL domain extensions. URLs that contain a .gov are limited to use by local, state and national government entities. URL's that have a .org extension were once limited to nonprofit organizations, but that is no longer the case. Have your students search the Constitution and compare the information they find at sites with .com, org, and .gov domain extensions. Are there advantages to any of these? Why or why not? Make sure they find the National Constitution Center site (.org) as well as the National Archives. Take a look at a .com site too (History.com?). Compare, contrast and discuss.
Additional resources for constitutional study:
Explore lead sentences - questions
Add this Minute to the list of those that begin with a question. Author Levinson’s question is short and to the point - and sets up the focus for the entire piece. See if your students have a piece in their writing journal that might benefit from experimenting with this technique, and have them give it a try.
Social Studies
Explore habeas corpus
This Minute introduces students to the idea of habeas corpus, a legal protection against a government's unlawful detainment or imprisonment. Have students investigate this concept. Challenge them to compile examples of the use of habeas corpus in history. As a culminating activity, set up a Paideia seminar to ask the big questions - is it ever okay for a government to detain people who have not broken any laws? If so, when? When, if ever, does the safety of a community outweigh the rights of an individual?
Explore US History - epidemic diseases
If your students examine the captions below the graphics included with this Minute, a practice in recognizing and effectively using nonfiction text features to increase comprehension, they will learn a tidbit about the influenza epidemic that gripped the United States and the world from 1918 to 1919. This was not the first time disease affected the US population. Have your students look at US history through the lens of contagious diseases, and then ask the bigger questions - how did the government react? How was the outbreak contained (or not)? What larger social outcomes could be traced back to outbreaks? Take a look at this timeline to provide some structure for study,
STEM
Explore biology - viruses and disease
How do we study viruses and disease? Get out those microscopes and send your students swabbing. What do they see? Which areas are more conducive to the growth of microscopic organisms? How do we classify and categorize what we see? How can we combat the growth of disease? What are the mechanisms that make vaccines effective?
Explore exponential growth
Contagious disease is a perfect way to look at the concept of exponential growth. Set up a 4 - 5 second timer. Every time the timer dings, you “pass the germ.” Start with linear growth. You stand. You carry the germ, but as you pass it to someone, you are no longer “contagious,” though still “infected” so you remain standing. You are now inert. Your now standing student passes to the next person - they stand. One at a time students stand and pass the germ. They can only pass once. This demonstrates linear growth. Measure how quickly the class became “infected.” Now for exponential growth. You “pass the germ” to a student (who stands), but you remain “contagious.” Now two of you are “contagious." You each pass to a student - and now there are three carriers of the germ. Each passes - we are up to six! As each student passes, all who have “received” can also pass. How quickly is the “germ” passed to everyone in the room? Chart and graph your examples. Have students transfer this concept by exploring areas where exponential growth might be significant.
Research Skills
Explore domain extensions - .org and .gov
An exploration of the US Constitution opens the opportunity to take a closer look at URL domain extensions. URLs that contain a .gov are limited to use by local, state and national government entities. URL's that have a .org extension were once limited to nonprofit organizations, but that is no longer the case. Have your students search the Constitution and compare the information they find at sites with .com, org, and .gov domain extensions. Are there advantages to any of these? Why or why not? Make sure they find the National Constitution Center site (.org) as well as the National Archives. Take a look at a .com site too (History.com?). Compare, contrast and discuss.
Additional resources for constitutional study:
- From Author Cynthia Levinson’s site: Resources for Teachers
- The Fault Lines in Our Constitution blog and site
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
