Summary
Students will learn about germs and how they travel.
Materials
Germs Everywhere
Spreading Diseases
- Heavy duty paper
towels or coffee filters
- Variety of water-based
markers labeled with #1
- Variety of permanent
markers labeled with #2
- Spray bottle filled with
water
- Water containers
- Pipettes or eyedroppers
- Old newspapers
Additional Resources
Books
- Wash Your Hands, by Tony Ross; ISBN 1923132018
- Mr. Putter and Tabby Catch the Cold, by Cynthia Rylant;
ISBN 0152047603
- Morris Has a Cold, by Bernrad Wiseman; ISBN 0590434292
- Ebeneezer Sneezer, by Fred Penner, Barbara Hicks;
ISBN 0920534376
Background for Teachers
Students should be aware that germs/bacteria travel from one person
to another.
Intended Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate a positive learning attitude.
2. Develop social skills and ethical responsibility.
Instructional Procedures
Invitation to Learn
Ask students to hold out their hands. Move from student to student
making comments such as, "Yuck," "Gross," and "Eew!" making
certain
to comment on each student, not only those who have dirty hands. "There
are 'THINGS' on you!" Look at own hands and say, "OH
NO!
There are THINGS on me TOO! What are these things?"
Instructional Procedures
Germs Everywhere
- These "things" on our hands are everywhere.
- Give each student
six stickers. Have them walk around the room
and CAREFULLY place a sticker on six things they have touched
today (e.g., doorknob, pencil sharpener, chair, computer keyboard,
desk, tables, etc.). (We will be taking the stickers off, so don't
push them down too hard.)
- After each student has finished, invite them
to look around and
see where most of the stickers have been placed. What does this
tell you?
- Graph where they put the stickers to see what has been touched
most often on the What Have Our Hands Touched Today? worksheet. Which five places have had the most contact? You
may have students put a sticker on the doorknob if they have
touched it during the day, and continue with other objects that
would receive the most contact in a day's time. This allows for
more controlled results.
Many people have touched the same things in the room.
By
doing this, germs are passed to others by our hands.
Where do some of these germs come from (e.g., sneezing, noses,
coughing, bathroom hygiene, animals, dirt, etc.)? When we touch
something, the germs come onto our hands. Does this mean we
shouldn't ever touch anything again? Should we wear gloves?
Should we stay in our homes so we never come in contact with
germs again? (No. Germs are part of life.)
There are germs that are harmless and there are germs that can
make us sick if they get inside of our bodies. They get inside our
bodies through our mouths, noses, and eyes.
What can we do to stop sharing a lot of germs with others?
- Wash our hands
and wash them thoroughly. Even drying
them with a paper towel removes some of the germs that are
on our hands.
- Throwing away tissues, bandages, and other items we have
used and not leaving them for others to pick up. Coughing and
sneezing in a tissue or on our arms instead of in our hands.
- Keeping our
rooms, desks, and other areas clean helps prevent
germs from spreading.
- Don't put things in your mouths.
Spreading Diseases
- Divide the chalkboard into
two sections, labeling one side with
the number 1 and the other side number 2.
- List a few different illnesses
people have (e.g., strep throat, colds,
chicken pox, measles, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, hay fever, etc.).
List all communicable diseases under #1 and noncommunicable
diseases under #2 without telling the students why.
- Choose five diseases
from each side.
- If the disease is under the #1, write the name of it on
your
paper towel using a marker that has #1 on it.
- If the disease is under
the #2, write the name of it on your
paper towel using a marker that has #2 on it.
- Place your paper towel
on a piece of wax paper. Fill your
pipette with water. Very carefully squeeze one drop of water
on each initial and watch what happens. Allow students time
to experiment. You may want to limit them to a certain
number of drops on each letter.
- The ink on the communicable disease
initials will spread
when the water is dropped on the letters.
- Students should come to the
conclusion that communicable
diseases will spread from one person to another, while
noncommunicable diseases cannot be passed from one person
to another.
Some diseases are called communicable diseases. This means
they spread to others. Other diseases are called
noncommunicable. You can't catch a noncommunicable disease
from other people.
- Change the numbers on the chalkboard from #1 to the
word
communicable and from #2 to noncommunicable.
We can help limit communicable diseases simply by washing our
hands, coughing and sneezing away from people, and practicing
good hygiene habits, but we can't control noncommunicable
diseases or catch them from others.
Extensions
- Create and laminate flyers
to hang in the restrooms encouraging
handwashing.
- Write a story from a germs point of view, either letting it
live and
being transferred from one person to another, or being washed
down the drain.
Family Connections
- Encourage healthy habits to prevent the spread of communicable
diseases.
- Share stories and poetry with family members.
- Write a poem about what
to do with germs and put it in a booklet
to take home and share with family members.
Assessment Plan
Each student draws a picture of the correct ways to
avoid
spreading diseases (e.g., covering mouth with tissue or coughing
into sleeve, washing hands, not putting things in their mouths, not
sharing cups or utensils with others, throwing away their tissues,
etc.).
Bibliography
Research Basis
Haury, D.L. (1993). Teaching Science through Inquiry. ERIC Clearinghouse for
Science
Mathematics and Environmental Education (ERIC Identifier ED359048). Retrieved
February 22, 2005, from http://www.eric.ed.gov
Indeed, research findings indicate that, “students are likely to begin
to
understand the natural world if they work directly with natural
phenomena, using their senses to observe and using instruments to extend
the power of their senses.”