Preventing the Infectious Flu

Unit: Preventing the Infectious Flu

What is the best way to prevent the flu from spreading in our school?

Driving Question: 

My driving question is: What is the best way to prevent the flu from spreading in our school? This question warrants in-depth study because it encourages students to observe and consider the different prevention methods and identify which idea would be most effective for our school and community. This topic is very relevant because the fall season is always haunted with flu season, and if less kids in the school get sick, it becomes a more enjoyable time for everyone. My driving question provides many learning opportunities for my students, including evaluation, analyzation, presentation, and defense. With this question, they will be expected to assess the different prevention methods, analyze how effective they could be in our school and community environment, present their idea on what would work best, and lastly, defend their impressions amongst the other groups within the classroom.

Grabber:

For my grabber, I would use a YouTube video called Flu Prevention Song for Kids (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ2UkgAFaEw). This is a catchy song all about the different ways to prevent the flu and other germs from spreading. There are many different pieces of information for my students to use in their projects, and because of the song’s catchiness and interesting visuals, they will be more inclined to pick their favorite practice and consider other possibilities. Once they see this video, they can think about what their own parents do when they get sick, and why it is effective or not effective in protecting their peers from the infectious germs. Most likely, my students won’t have seen this video before, so in their minds it will be original and will help to root their ideas and motivation into their minds. The video is extremely relevant to my driving question; it is all about different ways that we can prevent the flu from spreading. For example, the song states different ideas such as: covering your mouth when you sneeze, coughing into your arm, refrain from touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, washing your hands for 20 seconds, etc. This grabber will be used by giving my students their general ideas and inspiration, and allowing them to reference the video song while working on their projects. 

Culminating Activity:

After splitting the class into small groups, each group will great a poster and presentation to share with the class. On this poster, they should include which prevention method is best and how we can implement it within our school building. To cumulate their information and conclusion, the students will be allowed to use computers and online resources (such as http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/center/flu-center.html), along with talking to different people in our school, such as teachers, parents, and the school nurse. After considering all of the different prevention methods, they will decide which works best and create their poster, including their claim, evidence, and conclusion. This activity is authentic because the students will have to work together to create the poster and presentation points in class. This isn’t something that they will have done outside of my second grade classroom, so they will need to use their background knowledge and in-class observations to create their conclusion. This activity will do a great job of allowing students the opportunity to present and defend problem-solution because they will have to come up with an idea, test in, observe its success around the school, and then compare it to other ideas they have had. Within their groups, different members can suggest different ideas or rebuttals, and together they must work cohesively to compromise their ideas. If one student in a group feels that getting a flu shot is most effective, but another student provides the example that both he and his sibling got the flu even with the flu vaccination, the students have to go back to their brainstorming and find a new concept to consider. For another example, if a student feels that washing hands is the most effective and another student argues, that initial student can stand up for their idea and provide evidence that their idea should be the correct prevention method for their presentation. To evaluate their posters and presentations, I will give this rubric to my students (Download "PBL for Second Grade" to see rubric at the bottom).