Discussions

I would like to find a partner classroom in which students will study global infectious diseases and the impact of vaccines and antibiotics on mutation then have the students perform a CDC type forensic discovery in which they must identify an infectious bacterium via identification tests and finally build a model. We would be willing to use multiple forms of synchronous and asynchronous communication in order for the students to discuss back and forth. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Edmodo, Wiki, Google docs, Google Hangout, Skype, etc. would all be useful forms of communication. Students will discuss together what types of infection diseases (both bacterial and viral) that they encounter in their region. Students will compare and contrast which are similar and different and discuss possible reasons for those similarities and differences. Students will then discuss how medicine/vaccines/antibiotics cause mutation of those infectious diseases and the social implications of that. Next, students will do a role play scenario, similar to the movie contagion, where they have to perform a CDC type forensic discovery in which they must identify an infectious bacteriam via identification tests like oxidase test, BCP lactose test, Methyl Red test, citrate test, and many others. The students will have to plan what order they would like to perform which tests in order to "discover" which bacterium they are dealing with and finally they will need to design a model of that bacterium.