Germs: Creating an Understanding to Build Healthier Schools

“Hand washing is the single most important thing you can do to prevent the spread of germs and to stay healthy.”
~NEA Health Information Network

Germs seem to spread in a classroom like wildfire. Once on student gets sick, it’s only a matter of time before there are more and more empty desks in the class and the pile of make-up work to hand out and grade is on the verge of toppling over. As a teacher trying to avoid these germs, it is worth your time to help your students learn about simple ways to stay healthy. According to a pediatrician I talked to today, flu season is hitting a little late this year, so now is the ideal time to teach kids about staying healthy. Washing your hands is a basic skill that is often thought of as a skill that students should bring with them from home. Everyone knows how and why we wash our hands, right? Not always. Students and teachers who understand how germs are spread and how washing hands can prevent this spread are much more likely to take the time to wash their hands throughout the day.

Joann’s Picks this week include lessons and activities to teach students about germs, microbes, and bacteria. Throughout the week, our Facebook and Twitter pages will also be featuring daily ideas for implementing the study of germs into your class. If you don’t already follow us on one of our social networking sites, I recommend that you do, so you won’t miss out on any of the great ideas we highlight every day.

I read an NEA forum where teachers were sharing simple ideas they had used in the classroom to teach their students about germs, and I thought a couple of them were really neat. These activities would be a wonderful addition to some of the lessons Joann suggested in her column this week as well as the many other resources you can find when you search The Gateway. Both of these activities will help students see how easily germs are transferred from an affected person’s hands to all the surfaces they touch throughout the day. They are simple enough to use with classrooms as young as kindergarten and would work well as a visual introduction all the way up through a high school health class.

Activity 1: Who’s Sick?
Supplies: 1 baggie with 2 tablespoons of flour per student, 1 teaspoon of baking soda (to “infect” one plastic baggie) , plastic spoons (at least 1 per 2 students), vinegar

Sometimes people can be carrying germs before they even feel sick. You can infect the people around you with a cold or the flu without even feeling sick yourself. To demonstrate this, pass out a baggie with 2 tablespoons of flour to each student. (Before you pass them out, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to one of the bags and mix well.) Don’t tell the students what is in the bags, but tell them one of the bags has pretend “flu germs” in it. Instruct each student to find a partner. They will give that partner a plastic spoonful of their powder. Their partner will mix up the powder in their bag and give their partner a spoonful of the powder back. The students will pair up at least four times following the same procedure. To see how many of the students have the “flu germs” in their bags now, add a little vinegar to each bag. If their bag has baking soda (or “flu germs”), it will react to the vinegar and bubble. You can discuss how germs are spread, how many people ended up with the germs at the end of the activity, and how they could have prevented spreading the germs. Depending on the math skills of your students, you might decide to use the activity for computing percentages and proportions as well.

Activity 2: Glitter Germs

Germs can easily spread from one person to another, especially in a small space like a classroom. You might be surprised by some of the places they end up!

Ask for 3 volunteers to have pretend “germs” on their hands. Put glitter on these three students’ hands. (Remember: a little glitter goes a long way!) The 3 volunteers will then shake hands with 2 people each. Class can then run normally for a while. Soon, you will see traces of glitter on all different surfaces of your classroom and the students’ clothes and bodies. There are “glitter germs” everywhere! After you notice plenty of glitter transfer, you can begin a discussion about the movement of these germs and why it is important for us to wash our hands.

In your discussions, the question may come up of which places are the “germiest” at school. You can use this article and online diagram in “Where Germs Lurk” from the NEA Today Magazine to help them understand. This is also a great starter for students to do some research of their own (either online or library research or maybe even a scientific collection for older students.) Can there really be more bacteria on a school cafeteria tray than on a school toilet seat? Will I ever be able to drink out of a water fountain again? Yuck!

A good discussion starter about germs and washing hands is a music video from Sid The Science Kid called “Journey of the Germ.” It’s a really good visual representation of how a germ travels from person to person. “Just Wash Your Hands” is a song and music video from Bill Nye The Science Guy. It’s a catchy tune that might be best for the primary grades, but older students might get a kick out of it too. I know Weird Al did a parody about germs, too. You can find plenty of other fun examples if you search YouTube.

On the subject of YouTube, many of you have said that YouTube is blocked at your schools, making it unavailable as a tool for sharing educational videos with your students. You can find lots of great videos on TeacherTube, too, but this site may be blocked in many schools as well. A wonderful kindergarten teacher I know suggested downloading this browser extension that lets you easily download YouTube videos to your computer from home so you can use them in class, even if YouTube is blocked. He tested it with both Windows and Macintosh, and it seems promising.

If you are trying to implement some type of germ education in other disciplines, there are plenty of things you can do. In English and social studies, students could write poems, persuasive letters, or research papers about germs or the spread of a particular illness in history. Older students could create a presentation, video, song, or brochure to teach younger students about the importance of washing your hands. In math, students could look up figures and statistics about germs and bacteria and use these to calculate percentages, probabilities, and more. There are probably many other ways you can bring this topic into what you are currently studying so that you can continue to keep your classroom a healthy environment to you and your students.

Good luck getting the word out about staying healthy and preventing the spread of germs. I hope you and your students stay healthy through the flu season. Don’t forget to wash your hands!

~Peggy's Corner - 3/3/2011~

You Make Me Sick!

Every November, I start steeling myself for the onset of virus season. Since most of the students in our school district elect to receive flu shots, the number of flu cases in our schools is very manageable and the symptoms are fairly benign. The dreaded norovirus, however, is a different story. While many people refer to it as “the stomach flu,” norovirus is actually an RNA virus that causes acute vomiting and diarrhea and is responsible for about 90% of all epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness in the world. It’s highly contagious, and spreads from person to person through touching contaminated surfaces or through ingesting contaminated food or water. I’ve had the amazing luck to have all three of my children stricken nearly each year, usually all at the same time, in the middle of the night, while my husband is away on business travel. I know – try to restrain your jealousy. The virus sweeps through the school system faster than cranky postings on Formspring.

I once read that the February vacation that is observed in most U.S. public schools originated as an attempt to break the cycle of illness that generally strikes schools in winter. Whether the vacation actually has any effect on containing outbreaks of illness in students, I have no idea. The thing about norovirus, though, is that it is nearly always completely preventable. The major cause of the virus (and others) is a lack of proper hygiene, specifically inadequate handwashing. We all know that any public building, such as schools, can act as ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses. The chances of students contracting a virus increases as they become more mobile throughout the school. Changing classrooms, sharing desks, eating in the cafeteria, riding on the bus – all of these activities greatly contribute to students’ exposure to possible contamination. So, short of obsessively disinfecting all surfaces every hour, what can educators do to help limit the exposure to potentially harmful bacteria and viruses? Simple: remind and reinforce at every opportunity those handwashing lessons that most kids (should have) learned in kindergarten.

My picks this week all focus on bacteria and viruses (“germs”) – what they are, how they spread, and how they can be contained and eliminated. Throughout the week we’ll be featuring additional resources on our Facebook and Twitter pages, including the implications of bioterrorism, hands-on experiments with germs, the benefits of certain microorganisms, and much more. In the meantime, wash those hands!

Germ Busters!
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-22.7685911861
Subjects: Health, Biology
Grade: PreK-5
Students create podcasts to apply their knowledge of germs, how germs are spread, and how resulting sickness can be prevented. The podcasts may then be used to teach students in the rest of the school about germs and their prevention. This lesson was produced by Digital Wish, a non-profit that seeks to modernize K-12 classrooms and prepare students for tomorrow's workforce. On the Digital Wish web site, teachers can create wish lists of technology products for their classroom. Donors then connect with their favorite schools and grant classroom wishes through online cash or product donations.

The History of Germ Theory – Grade 12
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-25.1740904024
Subjects: Biology, Health, World history
Grade: 12
In this lesson students will learn the history of germ theory, from the 1600s to the present day. They will examine how germ theory developed and test antibacterial wipes for their "germ killing" properties. This lesson helps students learn the content of the indicators and benchmarks by weaving the history of germ theory with scientific inquiry as they "do" science and look at it through the eyes of scientists instrumental in the development of germ theory. This lesson is a product of the Ohio State Department of Education, and is aligned to Ohio state education standards.

Microbes: Too Smart for Antibiotics?
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-25.9038042676
Subjects: Biology, Health
Grade: 6-12
In this lesson, students learn about how bacteria (germs) are spread, the benefits of microorganisms, and the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This lesson includes two handouts - one for grades 6-12, the other suitable for grades 9-12 (advanced or AP classes). This lesson was produced by Action Bioscience, an educational site created to promote bioscience literacy by the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Resources on the site include peer-reviewed articles and lesson plans. This lesson is aligned to national science education standards.

~Joann's Picks - 3/3/2011~