The Black Death epidemic is responsible for more than one million deaths in the United Kingdom. An inquiry-based activity has young scholars explore the rate of disease spread. They then analyze graphs showing data from epidemics such as...

The first AIDS cases in the United States were reported in June of 1981. AIDS quickly became an epidemic soon and the lack of a treatment or cure caused fear in the entire population. Viewers observe a geographical representation of the...

Who actually goes looking for a virus? Expose your class to the high-stakes life of an epidemiologist on the trail of the Nipah virus. Pupils engage in a short video, then examine how scientists predict, model, and find the source of...

Are opioids the most abused drug after marijuana? How hard is it for young people to obtain painkillers without a prescription? Middle and high schoolers explore the growing epidemic of opioid addiction with a lesson that prompts them to...

International exploration and trade have largely carved out the world we know now. However, these historical movements often contributed to widespread pandemics of diseases, including the Bubonic Plague and other regional illnesses that...

Sixty-one percent of 5-10 year olds who are overweight have at least one risk factor for heart disease, and 26 percent have two or more. Explore the obesity epidemic with a video that shows obesity trends across the world. Viewers see...

Class members use an applet on the Internet to simulate the spread of a disease. The simulation allows individuals to determine two nodes to vaccinate to limit the number of nodes infected. By running several simulations, scholars can...

Looking for a valuable resource on the spread of infectious diseases? Here is a lesson in which pupils simulate the spread of diseases and learn about how to prevent them from spreading. Class members read case studies about diseases,...

Introduce infectious diseases and the epidemiologic triangle. A helpful resource describes the agent, host, and environment from the three vertices as well as the time factor, which is in the middle. Scholars complete a simple...

During a cholera outbreak, scientists presented two theories; one theory was based on miasma and the other on germs and contaminated water. The instructional activity looks at the scientific process for finding the real culprit. 

The avian influenza, otherwise known as the bird flu, was a global epidemic that infected many humans. As class members read about avian influenza, they discover additional global pandemics that have occurred throughout history.

Angelina Jolie, Bono, and P. Diddy all have something in common: they use their fame to contribute to society in such a way that makes the world a better place. After reading a three-page passage on the types of causes to...

The last reported case of polio in the United States was in 1979. But for those affected by the disease, what was life like before scientists found a cure? After reading a three-page passage on the disease, learners answer comprehension...

Scholars research and present on the historical happenings of 1919. After sharing their findings, pupils debate about how Congress dealt with the moral issues of the time. The evaluation asks learners to write a persuasive essay...

More than 90 percent of the people in a building have come down with an illness, and it is your job to investigate. Teachers give scientists the data needed to decide what is important and how they can solve the mystery. The exercise is...

In a lesson that integrates history and mathematics, class members create graphs that compare military death statistics from World War I with those that resulted from the influenza pandemic of 1918.

Encourage the spread of knowledge in your class with this cross-curricular epidemic simulation. Pulling together science, social studies, and math, this lesson engages students in modeling the spread of infectious diseases, collecting...

To generate interest in post‐Revolutionary Philadelphia and colonial times, class members read and discuss Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Fever, 1793. A simulation helps them grasp the magnitude of the yellow fever epidenic.

Most people know that Ebola is a deadly virus that they want to avoid, but understand very little about the disease itself. This short video hopes to change that by explaining how the virus affects the body, the symptoms it causes, and...

Pretend to be an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Detectives deal with data and make decisions to determine the dawn of the disease!

Where is HIV/AIDS most prevalent and what are the current trends regarding HIV? Have groups work together to map the world's HIV/AIDS rates, then create a class map with all the data. Lesson includes cross-disciplinary concepts including...

The deadly smallpox virus, which killed between 300-500 million people in the twentieth century alone, is a feature player in modern world history. Discover how this disease spread across the globe by and through various nations...

Your biology class plays the role of epidemiologist when a mysterious illness breaks out in Kildare, USA. Using interviews with doctors, patients, and local citizens, maps, the results from different materials sampling, they work to...

Have individuals wash their hands with soap and water, give one of them a yeast-covered piece of candy, and then have him shake hands with the person next to him. Handshakes continue down the line until everyone in the class has had...