Activity
1. Setting the stage: Display Overhead 1 as the students
walk in to take their seats. (Do not give them
the lesson title yet.) As soon as the bell rings,
have them ponder the 1st question on the overhead
while writing it in their notes:
What questions does this information raise in your mind?
2.
Write their answers on your overhead. (They must follow
along in their notes.) When done, tell them that all
their answers should lead to addressing three major
questions. The first is the most critical: What could
have caused
this? Without this question the other two cannot be
addressed: How did this happen? and Why did this happen
at this
time in history? So before the How? or Why? can be
answered, the What needs to be determined.
3.
Write down in the blank line: What could have caused
this to happen?
4.
Have students share ideas. (Some answers will be war,
famine (starvation), natural catastrophes
like
volcanoes
etc.) Hopefully among the many answers they share
they give the correct answer of disease. But wait:
Do not
tell them what is correct yet!
5.
Display Overhead 2 with the What? question and have them
share their answers.
They should be similar.
Prod
them about the dates and how that might offer
a clue. Again, use the United States as an example
to visualize
the severity of the numbers. In this 1519 case
it would be like 40 states of the 50 to be completely
empty
of humans because they are all DEAD.
6.
Finally, display Overhead 3 and repeat step 5.
7.
Now share the correct answer with the class: DISEASE.
Disease
is the culprit in all of these
cases. Let
them know that their answers all had merit,
but that in
the history of humanity only one thing has
had such a devastating
and rapid effect in the form of death on
humans, and that is disease. Disease kills more than
wars and famine
even though both of these are triggers that
aid diseases in taking over the human body and killing
it.
8.
Share: In the cases just shown, all of these diseases
killed so many because they
became
epidemic.
-In 1347-1351 it was the Bubonic Plague
(the Black Death)
-In 1492 and 1519 it was Smallpox
and –In 1918-1919 it was Influenza
9.
Elaborate on what epidemic signifies in human context.
Write the question: What does Epidemic
signify?
-It means that the disease has more control
over human life than humans!
-It means that because humans are incapable
of controlling it, it spreads and spreads
fast!
-It means mass death!
Closure
In this quarter the class will be exploring all of these
instances in more depth. With each case the following
2 questions will be addressed: 1) How did this happen?
and 2) Why did this happen at this time in history?
The class will explore the time periods in order to
better understand how and why these epidemics happened.
In the end, you will have an understanding of why some
of these diseases no longer exist in order to better
address the newer diseases in existence today. In other
words they are going to explore when diseases become
epidemics! |
