Home Explorations: Epidemic!
Consider a time when diseases rampaged through cities and killed thousands. That happened in 1854 in London. Cholera moved from house to house like a creeping vine. At first the patient would have a headache and stomach cramps, and then diarrhea would begin. Within 18 hours of the first symptoms, the patient was dead. In this set of explorations, we think like detectives to track down the source of the disease.
Read the story of Doctor Snow. This is a true story of how a doctor traced the source of the deadly disease, cholera.
Information about how to read stories with young people is located here. Information about keeping a STEM Notebook is located here. We always encourage students to write about their explorations.
After reading the story, students may have questions about the people, places and events related to the story. This is an excellent opportunity for pursuing these questions. Students might learn more about Florence Nightingale, London, cholera or other water borne diseases. Below are several related explorations with a STEM focus. Students can do any or all of these explorations with materials found around the home. They can be done in any order.
Being a Detective. Students at home can do the same detective work as Dr. Snow by taking the data that he used to plot the deaths on the map. By examining the pattern, students can deduce the source and make recommendations about how they might solve the problem.
Seeing the Invisible. Growing microbes on food!
Yeastie Beastie. Explore the nature of one microbe. What do they eat? What do they produce?
Population Explosion! If you had just a few bacteria on your potato salad, how many would be there in a few hours?
Protecting Yourself from Microbes.
In this exploration students explore the ability of a filter to keep out small particles.
