It’s Catching- Act.

30
Key Words: Infectious

Directions:

1. Look at Student Sheet 30.1, “Anticipation Guide: Diseases,” below. Complete the “Before”
part only at this time. You can mark your +/– right after the number of the statement:

Before: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

After: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)
Be sure to write your responses in RED ink.

2. What are different ways in which diseases are caused?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read the introduction and Challenge for Activity 30, “It’s Catching” below.
3. Look at Transparency 30.1, “Predicting Infectious Disease Spread,” below. Mark, draw, or
describe the graph that you think best represents how infectious diseases are spread
throughout a community. Explain why you chose that graph.

Procedure:
1. In the charts below there is data that we are using as an example of how an infectious disease can
spread. In our hypothetical experiment, each person began with “saliva” in a cup. Through the
duration of three days, each person went to different locations and “exchanged saliva” with some or
all of the people they encountered.

2. Saliva can be exchanged through coughing, talking, sneezing, or any number of ways. At the end of
the three days, each student checked to see if they had become infected and, if so, on what day and
at what location. Look at the two tables of sample class data.

Class Results

Times Number of people infected Percent of people infected

Initial (Day 0) 3 8.6%

Day 1 6

Day 2 11

Day 3 15

3. Out of a class of 35 students, calculate the percent of people infected each day and record it in
the table. Calculate the percentage taking the number of people infected and dividing by the number of
people in the class and then multiplying that result by 100 to give you the percent.
Example: (Day 0) (3 people infected/35 students)X 100= 8.6% (rounding to one decimal
point)

Location of Initial Infection

Total # of
Place Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 infected at each
place (or event)

Fast food restaurant

Football game 2 3 1
Home
Movie theater 1 1 2
Music store
School dance
Shopping mall 1 1
Video arcade
4. Add up the total number of people infected at each place and record it in the table above.

5. Use the data in the “Class Results” table to create a line graph of the number of infected people
over time. Be sure to include the initial data (Day 0), label your axes, and title your graph. Connect
the dots.

Making the graph directions:

-Open Google Docs and start a new doc
-Select “Insert”, “Chart, “Line”. A generic graph will appear.
-At the bottom left of the page a “Edit in Google Sheets” message will appear for about 15
seconds. Select that or simply go to Google Sheets and you will see a file with your graph on
it.
-Edit the headings and numbers in the cells with the information from this activity. The
graph will be updated with this information.
-Right click on the graph and select COPY and then paste it into this Word document.
Shazam!! You now have a great looking graph!! Good job!!

Analysis Questions: Explain using complete sentences and correct spelling

1. Based on your graph of the class results, what happened to the number of people infected with the
disease over time?

2. Think about how the infectious disease was spread from person to person in this example of a
community. If you were trying to avoid catching the disease, what could you do? Use evidence from
this activity to support your answer. Be specific.

3. a. Imagine that you are the director of the health department in the town where this disease is
spreading. It is your job to help prevent people from getting sick. Explain what you would
recommend to try to prevent more people from getting infected.

b. What are the trade-offs of your recommendations? (A trade-off is a kind of compromise that
involves giving up something in return for getting something else. Every decision involves trade-
offs because there are always alternatives that we give up whenever we choose one thing over
another.)
5. Fill in the “After” column for Statements 1-3 only on Student Sheet 30.1, “Anticipation Guide:
Diseases.” Did your thinking change? Explain your answer.