What is the most important thing students should learn on the first day of their first high school science class during a pandemic? The science of COVID-19, of course!

Purpose:

• welcome students to their grade 9 science class and introduce them to our learning model

• explore COVID-19 disease and SARS-CoV-2 virus

• understand the safety practices we are using in our school and science classroom

• confront misinformation with science!

My Teaching Goals:

• maintain as much cooperative group work and student-to-student discussion as possible while observing COVID-19 safety guidelines

• get students thinking scientifically!

• share with teachers what I am doing in my classroom

Lesson Summary

• Lesson 1: Join the Science Team! Introduce our cooperative group work practices.

• Lesson 2: Understanding COVID-19. We explore the characteristics of the virus and study the disease and it modes of transmission

• Lesson 3: Fighting COVID-19. We explore how masks work and model respiratory droplets using powders in an experiment.

• Assignment: Tracking COVID-19. Time to be an epidemiologist! Students examine graphs and infographics giving up-to-date information about the spread and effects of SARS-CoV-2. THey practice making public health decisions using this data.