Healthcare Videos

Resources

The following is a list of websites useful in the study and teaching of epidemiology and other public health topics:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sites and Publications
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Global Communications Center
*CDC Foundation
Healthy People 2010
Office of Communication: Media Relations
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Emerging Infectious Diseases: Outbreak Investigations - A Perspective
Viral Hepatitis: What Every Teenager Needs to Know

Medical Journals and Epidemiology Publications
Communicable Disease Report Weekly United Kingdom
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
The Lancet
New England Journal of Medicine Scientific American Weekly Epidemiologic Record
World Health Organization

Science and Health
Access Excellence
National Health Museum
http://www.accessexcellence.org/index.html

Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs
http://www.aehap.org

Bad Bug Book
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~MOW/intro.html

Detectives in the Classroom
Montclair State University
http://www.montclair.edu/detectives/

Epidemic! The World of Infectious Disease
American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/epidemic

Health Insight: Taking Charge of Health Information
Harvard University
http://www.health-insight.harvard.edu/

Health Science Curriculum Online
National Institutes of Health
http://science-education.nih.gov/homepage.nsf

Howard Hughes Medical Institute http://www.hhmi.org

Classroom Activities

• Detectives in the Classroom
  An excellent resource for use in middle school and high school classrooms. This series of more than 30 middle and high school lesson plans covers a variety of epidemiologic topics including hypothesis generation and testing, study design, and decision making. Developed by Drs. Mark Kaelin and Wendy Huebner, at Montclair State University, these materials have been extensively tested and evaluated in the New Jersey area.

The following lesson plans are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Visit the CDC’s educational website here for more information
• Middle School Lesson Plans - Autism
  • Autism and the Brain (PDF)
    This lesson may be used to introduce the concept of autism spectrum disorders in middle school and introductory high school biology or life science classes. It will allow students to explore brain structure and function, investigate emerging research, and write a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifying new research they think is needed in the area of autism. To complete these activities, the students should be familiar with basic biology and the scientific method.
  • Autism - What Is It? (PDF)
    Students will use resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and compare expected child development to development that might indicate a diagnosis of ASDs. A final project will be the preparation of posters showing the signs of ASDs. These posters will be displayed in a community library, clinic or other public building.
  • What's Really True?  Discovering the Fact and Fiction of Autism (PDF and PPT - WinZip)
    Students will use resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and compare expected child development to development that might indicate a diagnosis of ASDs. A final project will be the preparation of posters showing the signs of ASDs. These posters will be displayed in a community library, clinic or other public building.
• High school lesson plan topics - Autism
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders: The New Rainbow (PDF)
    This lesson is designed for use in a 9th- or 10th-grade biology class to introduce students to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The lesson gives a basic overview of ASDs through literature, lecture, and group discussion. It concludes with a creative-writing activity where students demonstrate what they have learned about ASDs.
  • Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Disorders Extending Beyond the "Norm" (PDF)
    Students develop an understanding of autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) by being exposed to and making observations about items that create sensory extremes. Using an inquiry-based discussion, students discover the wide range of defining characteristics of ASDs. Then, students create posters about developmental characteristics that might occur in children with developmental disorders.
• Middle School Lesson Plans - Birth Defects
  • Investigating Birth Defects (PDF)
    In this lesson, students take on the role of epidemiologists and investigate mystery birth defects occurring around their city or town. Students form groups, then research and present information about various birth defects and developmental disabilities to their peers. In the process, they learn about possible causes, treatments, and prevention methods for these birth-related conditions.
• High school lesson plan topics - Birth Defects
  • You Gotta Have Heart: Congenital Heart Defects and Heart Surgery (PDF)
    Congenital heart defects are one of the most prevalent types of birth defect and the largest contributor to infant mortality in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998). In this lesson students will A) learn heart anatomy by doing an on-line investigation, B) dissect a sheep heart and learn about congenital heart defects, and C) perform “cardiac surgery” to correct a septal defect on a sheep heart. The target age group for this lesson plan is students in the 11th or 12th grade.
  • Causes of Birth Defects: An Epidemiological Mystery (PDF)
    In this lesson students will be presented with a problem – a cluster of unexplained neural tube birth defects are occurring in a town. Students will take on different roles (physician, parent, epidemiologist, lab technician, etc.) to investigate possible causes of the increased occurrence of birth defects, and then use the evidence gathered to propose the most probable cause. The focus of the lesson is to better understand the process of investigating a scientific problem and the many risk factors associated with birth defects.

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