Appendix Implementing District Standards
The standards associated with this unit include the following Next Generation Science Standards:
- HS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
- HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
- HS-LS4-5. Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: increases in the number of individuals of some species, the emergence of new species over time, and the extinction of other species
The following are the learning objectives for the unit:
- I can outline the structure and function of basic respiratory infectious diseases.
- I can explain how viruses spread and mutate through a population, as well as the factors that affect the rate of disease spread.
- I can suggest solutions to decrease the spread of indoor respiratory diseases using evidence and reasoning to justify solutions.
- I can outline the coevolutionary biological arms race that takes place between pathogens and organisms/human medical innovation.
Student Reading List
Agyapon-Ntra, Kwadwo, and Patrick E. McSharry. “A Global Analysis of the Effectiveness of Policy Responses to COVID-19.” Scientific Reports 13 (2023): 5629. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31709-2.
“CDC NERD Academy Student Quick Learn: How Does Disease Spread?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). February 24, 2022. Video, 12:42. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QLgXzyXOH0.
Colizza, Vittoria, Eva Grill, Rafael Mikolajczyk, Ciro Cattuto, Adam Kucharski, Steven Riley, Michelle Kendall, Katrina Lythgoe, David Bonsall, Chris Wymant, Lucie Abeler-Dörner, Luca Ferretti, and Christophe Fraser. “Time to Evaluate COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Apps.” Nature Medicine 27 (2021): 361–362. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01236-6.
InformedHealth.org. In Brief: The Innate and Adaptive Immune Systems. Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), 2006–. Updated August 14, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279396/.
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Science Saturday: Antibody Testing, in Pictures.” Mayo Clinic News Network, April 18, 2020.
Minguillón, María Cruz, Xavier Querol, Andrés Alastuey, Michael Riediker, José Manuel Felisi, Tomás Garrido, Gabriel Bekö, Sascha Nehr, Peter Wiesen, and Nicola Carslaw. Guide for Ventilation Towards Healthy Classrooms. December 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10261/225519.
Mozur, Paul, Raymond Zhong, and Aaron Krolik. “In Coronavirus Fight, China Gives Citizens a Color Code, with Red Flags.” New York Times, May 26, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/technology/china-coronavirus-surveillance.html.
Sonnevend, Julia. “A Virus as an Icon: The 2020 Pandemic in Images.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology 8, no. 3 (2020): 451–461. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-020-00118-7.
Wilson, Michael, Wilson, Philippa J.K. “Microbes and Infectious Diseases.” In: Close Encounters of the Microbial Kind, 3-48. Springer, Cham, 2021.
University of New South Wales, “Face Covering and Mask to Minimize Droplet Dispersion & Aerosolisation,” YouTube video, 1:49, posted July 27, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNeYfUTA11s.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “COVID‑19 Test Basics.” FDA Consumer Updates, (July 2023). Accessed July 27, 2025. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer‑updates/covid‑19‑test‑basics.
Materials
- Modelling materials
- Infection! Epidemic Simulation Kit by Flinn Scientific
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