Pen Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Please keep this thread friendly! Are you teaching your children anything about ebola, EV, or viruses in general? If so would you share what? We are doing a segment on viruses (in general) for today's science/current events learning. So far we have read some in Wikipedia, the Merck Manual, and considered the film Inside the Living Body. Unfortunately we do not have TV and only dial-up internet and so did not have access to Nova when it had something about this, but other films that we could get via Netflix would be welcome. Do you have any suggestions for us of materials, films, books, etc. that would be helpful? This is for logic stage child, but if you have ideas for younger or older that could make the thread more valuable. We are trying to understand DNA versus RNA viruses. We will also be looking at ebola in terms of mathematics. There has been debate about whether it is important or being overblown in the news. I happen to believe that it is important, in part because of the mathematics of the situation, in part because of the horrible nature of the illness and the devastation to communities it brings as well as its tendency to overwhelm healthcare facilities in West Africa. If as Nabarro told the UN, cases of ebola are doubling every 3-4 weeks, and if it has aprox. 50% fatality rate, then in one year, more or less, one could expect around 16 million cases or fatalities (I got lost on keeping track of my doublings, but the next month it would be expected to double again in any case)...unless it is stopped. It reminds me of the old story of the man who asked for a reward to be a grain of wheat on the first square of a chess board, doubled to 2 on the second square, and so on for all 64 squares. This was thought to be a small thing to ask, until it was realized that the power of doubling is such that the kingdom did not have enough wheat total to do that. What other aspects of virus should we be considering if we make this a special learning block for next week? History? Social aspects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 PS Time magazine just arrived and has an article that seems to be called "Panic," which my ds is now reading too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Great thread, Pen! We are just going over the info in a general sense and watching CNN student news at the moment. I definitely would like to use this as a jumping off point for more indepth learning without scaring them to death so I will be "listening" to the other responses. Best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Mainly, I have just told them the basics of different viruses going around. I also am the queen of making them wash their hands any time they go out and about and back again. I will be following this thread for ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 We've talked mostly about the social aspects of Ebola and particularly about how it has played out at different times and in different parts of Africa. Learning about disease and its prevention in different parts of the world is very important to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyhwkmama Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I actually checked out this DVD from my local library and watched it. It was a few weeks before ebola hit the news. I was glad to have seen it. I offered my kids the opportunity to watch it, but they declined. The opening sequence with body bags was too much for them. If you have older kids, I highly recommend it. It is not a graphic DVD at all. https://www.google.com/shopping/product/2802980864952316317?q=nova+ebola+dvd&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&ion=1&tch=1&ech=1&psi=42U4VLmCOOfz8AGYiYD4CQ.1412982275942.3&ei=BmY4VMSCFpChyATr64D4CQ&ved=0CGUQpiswAQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Some virology resources here: http://www.virology.ws/2013/12/03/virology-at-coursera/ https://www.class-central.com/mooc/952/coursera-virology-i-how-viruses-work http://worldofviruses.unl.edu/category/general/ http://www.nescent.org/eog/curriculum.php I have to say I found the class on viruses I took in college as part of a microbiology minor to be both fascinating and frightening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HejKatt Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 For younger students: Our science club teacher showed pictures from the book "The Incredible Machine" - white blood cell engulfing a microbe, components of blood. She recommended the book as an overall good resource. http://www.amazon.com/The-Incredible-machine-Robert-Poole/dp/0870446193 She also had a bag of Giant Microbes (stuffed toys in the shape of microbes). The kids were fascinated by Ebola and Black Death (although they have a tendency to start tossing them at each other, a child's version of biological warfare). Pen, the example you gave of how quickly microbes multiply is great. She used that as an example of how we should rest when we start to feel down, so our bodies focus on fighting the microbes and containing them earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raining Pineapples Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 There is a book called "Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. This would be for high schoolers, or older. It is the true story about the mutated strain of Ebola appearing in VA years ago through some imported monkeys. The book started off discussing the progression of the disease and was graphic about it and talked about CDC procedures. I was fascinated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 I have been following the ebola outbreak with my 7 year old since we live in Africa and have friends living in countries close to the Ebola outbreak. But also because medical things fascinate my eldest daughter and it has been a chance to explain how life in West Africa differs from where we live and also how our own hospitals can struggle with similar things. There have been articles we have looked at about a young women who brought 3 out of 4 family members through the disease using only plastic packets as "scrub." We also spoke about what causes it and how it spreads and what countries do to stop it spreading to them and about how these measures have impacted the countries affected. We have watched the graph of the countries it has been in and discussed why it might be out of control in some countries and yet relatively quickly brought under control in other countries. We started this study when we spoke about the bubonic plague in history and we discussed why that had spread and killed so many more people. We have also discussed the predictions about how far ebola will spread and how rapidly it is spreading and why different people predict different things (with no Maths involved - she is too young) and finally we have spoken about how to prevent ourselves from getting it if it were to make it into our country and why the likelihood of it affecting us (as a family - not as a country) is very low at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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