Young scientists use exponential growth and logarithms to model how a virus spreads through a population. Pupils watch a news clip about the 2012 outbreak of Ebola. Scholars then manipulate inactive graphs to see how various factors influence the spread of the disease.

Concepts

logarithms, exponential growth, pandemics, viruses, ebola virus, the bird flu, epidemics, exponential equations, the recursive formula

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Have groups chart how lockdowns, social distancing, hand washing, and wearing masks influence the spread of the CORONA virus

Classroom Considerations

• Learners should be familiar with the formula for the sum of a finite geometric series
• Spreadsheets are required to perform some calculations recursively
• While the focus is on the Ebola virus, the principles apply to COVID-19 as well

Pros

• Demonstrate how mathematical principles can be applied to medical science

Cons

• None

Common Core

MP3 MP4 MP7 HSF-BF.A.1.a HSF-BF.A.1.b HSF-BF.A.1.c HSF-BF.A.2 HSF-BF.B.5 HSF-LE.A.2 HSF-LE.A.4 HSF-LE.B.5