Lesson Plan: Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Subjects:

U.S. History, World History, Civics/Government, Current Events, Health and English Language Development

• This lesson could be used in a mainstream Social Studies class with multilingual students, or an English Language Development class. It is appropriate for middle school students (and higher) with or without language learning needs.
• The lesson is geared toward students with English proficiency level 3, an intermediate level. These students typically have strong social or conversational English skills but are still acquiring academic English.
  • See WIDA’s Can Do Descriptors for more information about English proficiency levels.
• Students with more or less English proficiency may need fewer or more language supports to participate in the lesson activities.

Essential Questions:

• How have international organizations and the U.S. government sought to eradicate infectious diseases like smallpox?
• How do social trust and other tools relate to the suppression of contagious diseases?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Organize their understanding of specific vocabulary and concepts.
• Identify how previous global public health campaigns sought to eradicate infectious diseases like smallpox and polio.
• Explain factors that made efforts to eradicate polio more difficult.
• Consider how social trust and other tools relate to the suppression of contagious diseases.

Materials:

• Retro Report video “Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics” (Transcript)
• Student Activity handout
• Preparation: For the List-Group-Label strategy (step 3), Vocabulary Slide Deck: Select “File>Make a Copy” to eliminate, edit or reorder; Select “File>Print>2 pages per sheet.” Then, print, laminate (optional), and cut out the slides – they act as cards.
• sticky notes/post-its

Procedure:

1. Distribute the Student Activity handout and have students engage in a 2-minute quick write or drawing in response to the prompt: “What do you think about when you hear the word coronavirus?”
2. Allow students an opportunity to share their responses (in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class).
3. Next, students will engage in the List-Group-Label strategy:
   1. Give partners or sets of 3 students a list of terms from the video (Transcript).
   2. Possible terms include (Vocabulary Slide Deck): Pandemic, Outbreak, Infectious disease, Eradicate, W.H.O. (World Health Organization), Contagious, Lethal, Quarantine, Epidemic, Vaccinate, Distrust, Transparency, Dr. Larry Brilliant, Polio, Smallpox, South Korea
   3. Instruct students to group the words in any way they think works for those words. Give them sticky notes to label the groups with some characteristics, like places, dates, people, events or whatever label fits that group.
   4. Have students stand and tell the rest of the class about their groups, using one of the provided sentence frames.
   5. As needed, go through the words and enunciate them. Have students repeat them.
   6. Optional: Have students pick three words and write a sentence for each.
   7. Students may be encouraged to create sentences showing cause-effect relationships.
   8. For more information, see List-Group-Label | Reading Rockets
4. Direct students to the next section of the Activity handout. Students will determine cause-effect relationships by reading each pair of sentences and identifying the sentence that contains the effect with an X. Alternatively, the teacher may read the statements aloud, with students following along.
   1. For more information, see Teaching Cause and Effect: 11 Tips for Student Practice | Newsela
5. Have students watch the Retro Report video “Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics” (Transcript) and answer the related questions on the Activity handout.
6. As time allows, ask the class:
   1. What are some takeaways from the history of fighting smallpox and polio that are relevant for dealing with the coronavirus today?
   2. How do social trust and other tools relate to the suppression of contagious diseases?
7. Finally, have students summarize the video by sequencing its events using words and pictures on the related chart on the Student Activity handout.
   1. See: 5 Emoji Learning Activities with Google Docs | Control Alt Achieve, Eric Curts
8. Students may share with partners, as time permits.

About the Authors:

Tyler McCabe has taught Social Studies and Special Education since 2008. He has a master’s degree in Special Education and a bachelor’s degree in Broadfield Secondary Social Studies Education.

Filiz Yargici is Retro Report’s Education Manager. Previously, she was a state education specialist in K-12 social studies education and taught high school Social Studies for nearly two decades.

Standards

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

• D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effect of events in the past.
• D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.
• D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

Common Core Literacy Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.15.8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• CCSS.ELA.LITERACY.RI.11-12.3: Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequences of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact or develop over the course of a text.
• CCSS.ELA.LITERACY.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

• ELD-SS 6-12. Explain Expressive: Construct social studies explanations that generalize multiple causes and effects of developments or events.
• ELD-SS.6-12. Explain.Expressive: Construct social studies explanations that establish perspective for communicating outcomes, consequences, or documentation.