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DETECTIVES IN THE CLASSROOM
Summary
 
What is epidemiology?
 
Why is the curriculum called Detectives in the Classroom?
 
Why develop a curriculum for middle school students?
 
Five Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings
 
Concept Map of the Five Essential Questions
 
Epidemiology Backgrounds
 
Alignment with the National Science Education Standards
 
Alignment with Attributes of Scientific Literacy

Alignment with National Science Education Standards

An important part of the rationale for infusing the science of epidemiology into middle school curricula is how it helps students meet National Science Education Standards.* Detectives in the Classroom is particularly valuable for improving students' Fundamental Abilities in Science as Inquiry.

The matrix below shows how students develop their Fundamental Abilities in Science as Inquiry by learning to answer the five Essential Questions:

1.

How is this disease distributed and what hypotheses might explain that distribution?

2.

Is there an association between the hypothesized cause and the disease?

3.

Is this association causal?

4.

What should be done when preventable causes of disease are found?

5.

Did the disease prevention strategy work?

Matrix of the Fundamental Abilities in Science as Inquiry and
Detectives in the Classroom's Five Essential Questions
   

Essential Questions
 

Fundamental Abilities in Science as Inquiry

1

2

3

4

5

1

Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigation.

X

X

X

  

X
2

Design and conduct a scientific investigation.

X

X

    

X
3

Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.

X

X

    

X
4

Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.

X

X

X

X

X
5

Think critically and logically; make relation-
ships between evidence and explanations.

X

X

X

X

X
6

Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.

X

  

X

  

X
7

Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.

X

X

X

X

X
8

Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry.

X

X

X

  

X

*

National Research Council.  (1996)  National Science Education Standards.  Washington, D.C.:  National Academy Press.