Free Middle School Unit Explores COVID-19 and Health
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/09/21
Two organizations
that want to transform science education to be more effective have
released a beta version of a new instructional unit on COVID-19 and
health. The free lessons from OpenSciEd
and BSCS Science
Learning are intended to help students learn how
people help end pandemics.
Over the course of
the unit, students study the latest pandemic in light of historical
outbreaks, to develop their understanding of several concepts:
-
How the
COVID-19 virus spreads from person to person and through
communities;
-
How strategies
to reduce transmission of COVID-19 work; and
-
How the actions
of individual people can help to end pandemics.
The unit also
supports development of two social emotional competencies:
self-awareness and social awareness. The lessons use an inquiry-based
approach. They're designed to cover 15 class periods of instruction,
with optional extensions. Because of its interdisciplinary nature,
the two organizations consider the unit appropriate for use in middle
school science, social studies or health classes.
The current version
is a "field test" edition, which will be revised in late
summer 2021.
To learn more, visit
the OpenSciEd website and the BSCS
website.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.