INVESTIGATING DISEASE AND PREVENTION

Your job in this WebQuest is to learn about diseases that have affected people for hundreds of years. You will investigate five different diseases to learn how scientists have worked to prevent their spread among populations. You will answer a set of questions about these diseases and their prevention to demonstrate what you have learned. Once you've conducted some research to increase your knowledge of these diseases and their prevention, you'll select one of the diseases to investigate further. You'll create a timeline that shows key dates in the study of that disease as well as other dates and events that occurred during the same period of time. The purpose of the timeline is to show how scientific study has led to discoveries that help prevent the spread of disease. You'll include a description of each date on the timeline and summarize the current state of prevention of this disease.

Access the online activity here!

Resources
Look at the web sites given here to find the information that will help you answer questions about different diseases and their prevention, and to gather information to use as you build your timeline.

http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/8The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science describes John Snow's work in studying the causes and prevention of cholera.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/ideas912/912cholera.htmlVisit this page on the National Geographic Web site to learn more how John Snow used medical geography to help understand the spread of cholera during the 1854 outbreak.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/peopleevents/pandeAMEX88.htmlFind out about the flu epidemic of 1918 by visiting the Influenza 1918 site on the Public Broadcasting System Web site.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/Learn more about the influenza pandemic of 1918 by visiting this page on the Stanford University Web site.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm52sa.htmlRead about how the polio vaccine was produced and tested at this page from the Public Broadcasting System Web site.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/polio.htmlFind out more about how the polio vaccine was developed on this page from Access Excellence.

http://www.rbm.who.int/cmc_upload/0/000/015/372/RBMInfosheet_1.htmThe World Health Organization provides information about malaria as part of the Roll Back Malaria initiative.

http://familydoctor.org/handouts/384.htmlRead more about malaria by visiting this page on the American Academy of Family Physicians Web site.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/malaria/id319101.htmlVisit the National Library of Medicine's interactive page on malaria. You'll read about topics such as causes, symptoms, and prevention of malaria.

http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/misc/smallpox_p2.htmlLearn more about smallpox by investigate this Kidshealth page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/discovery/medicine/smallpox_02.shtmlEdward Jenner's study of smallpox is discussed on this page from the British Broadcasting Corporation.

http://www.jennermuseum.com/sv/smallpox2.shtmlThe Jenner Museum describes the accomplishments of British scientist Edward Jenner. Read about how Jenner studied the relationship between cowpox and smallpox on this page.

You may use these resources to help you develop your timeline:
http://www.teacheroz.com/20thcent.htm
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/howtomakeatimeline1.htm

Easy Science Experiments

Current Events

Conclusion
In the process of completing this WebQuest, you've become informed about five different diseases: cholera, the flu epidemic of the 20th century, malaria, polio, and smallpox. You have read information to answer questions about this topic, and have increased your knowledge of how scientists have studied these diseases in the quest to minimize their impact on people and discover effective treatments. You've also used your research skills to create a timeline that describes how one of these diseases has affected people throughout history. Hope you rocked and rolled.