Strategies
Many different strategies will be used throughout the entire unit. The students will learn about immunity and population size/disease load through role-play. I will guide the students through simulations to explain innate and acquired immunity. For the lesson on invasive and native species, the students will set-up several different scientific investigations. One of these investigations will demonstrate how invasive species take over the habitat of native species by having students grow grass in a foil pan. Chickweed will then be introduced. Students will note their observations. The second one will demonstrate how a disease can harm the native species more than the invasive species. My class will plant three pans using identical methods. One pan will have grass, one will have chickweed, and the third pan will have a mixture of grass and chickweed. Then the same amount of the same type of disease will be introduced to each pan. The students will make observations throughout these two experiments.
Next, the students will watch a video clip about the land bridge. The students will then have a discussion about the implications of the migration on the Native Americans' immune system and their vulnerability to disease. The students will now have a strong foundation to better understand the impact of the arrival of the English colonists and the Old World diseases that came with them. The students will use a graphic organizer to predict the pros and cons of the English colonization for the English and the Native Peoples. These charts will provide me with their level of understanding at this stage in the unit.
A mapping activity depicting where English and Native American populations lived in the Eastern part of Virginia will be completed. This activity will visually show the students how the populations were changing over time.
The starving time will be explored for two days since this is a focal point of this unit. Following a teacher led discussion the class will write a journal entry from a colonist's point of view. The following day, the students will learn about the drought and write a journal entry from the Native Americans point of view. Having the students take on the point of view of the colonists and the Native Americans will be challenging, but meaningful. Since fourth graders are learning about author's purpose and point of view, this strategy would support their standards as well as critical thinking skills.
Over the next four days, the class will learn about diptheria, measles, typhoid, smallpox, and yellow fever. The students will make a flip-book to help them remember the important features of these diseases.
The students will spend two days preparing virus/bacteria playing cards. The students will engage in an Infectious Disease card game. This will teach the students about the diseases in a fun way and will help them understand and synthesize much of the information they learned previously in this unit.
The final activity is for the students to complete a writing assignment. They will choose one of the diseases from this unit and write an informative paper about the disease including how the disease impacted one of the various cultural groups in early America. By having the students write an essay about one disease, it will allow for choice and empower them to show what they have learned from this unit.
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