|
|
Pre-class assignments
Military system design: Students were asked to spend the weekend thinking about everything they would need to defend a nation. They were told to think about people, infrastructure, military systems, physical defenses, every aspect of defense. We compiled a large list and, in later discussions, related the items on that list to components of the immune system.Potato salad reading: Students were asked to read the first chapter of Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC by Joseph McCormick, Susan Fisher-Hoch, Leslie Alan Horvitz. The chapter deals with one of the writers' experiences tracing an outbreak of food poisoning on her first assignment from the CDC. We used this as an introduction to epidemiology. The book is available from Amazon.comSARS reading: This reading wsa as a current example of a real-life epidemiological study, allowing the students to link their course work to a real world situation. Students read Ksiazek, TG, et al, "A novel coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome," New England Journal of Medicine, 2003 May 15;348(20): 1953-66. This article is available online.
Other Homework assignments
Online Case studies: Students were asked to read and work through some of the Bacterial Mini Case Studies and Viral Mini-Case Studies available through the American Society for Microbiology's MicrobeLibrary of curriculum resource.Monday Online Reading Assignments: Students were expected to familiarize themselves with the ELISA assay and the Western blot analysis described on these web pages from the University of Arizona. This served as backgroud reading for these two activities.
Vaccination and ethics of research readings: Wednesday afternoon included a discussion of research ethics and pros and cons of vaccination. In preparation, students were asked to review the following web sites:
Vaccination myths, by Alan Phillips, this served as the main basis for our discussion.
Should I Vaccinate My Child?, by Jini Patel Thompson, an anti-vaccination article from HealingWell.com
To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate, by Mary Kenyon, an anti-vaccination web site from a homeschooling network.
Have you suffered from a vaccine? from the Vaccine lawyer Network.
Have you suffered from WorldCom Stock Fraud? Students were asked to compare this site and its owners with the previous one as a lesson in critically examining sources of information on the internet.
Vaccine Myths, from the Immunization Action Coalition. A website that attempts to explain some of the major misconceptions about vaccination.
Six Common Misconceptions, a CDC website attempting to refute some of the myths about vaccination.
Unprotected People Reports, stories of people who have suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases. Also from the Immunization Action Coalition.
What Would Happen if We Stopped Vaccinations? CDC projections of the potential effects of halting vaccination programs worldwide. Students were expected to work on their groups presentations outside of class time.
|