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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

Scientific Literacy Alignment

The National Research Council* describes a scientifically literate person as someone who:

.  .  .  can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences  .  .  .  has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomenon  .  .  .  is able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of their conclusions  .  .  .  can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed  .  .  .  (is) able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it  .  .  .  (has) the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately.

Detectives in the Classroom contributes to the development of students' scientific literacy.  The matrix below shows how students develop the attributes of a scientifically literate individual by learning to answer Detectives in the Classroom's 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 Attributes of Scientific Literacy and
Detectives in the Classroom's Five Essential Questions
   

Essential Questions
 

Attributes of Scientific Literacy

1

2

3

4

5

1

. can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences.

X

X

X

  

X
2

. has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomenon.

X

X

X

  

X
3

. is able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of their conclusions.

X

X

X

X

X
4

. can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed.

    

X

X

X
5

. (is) able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it.

    

X

X

X
6

. (has) the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately.

X

X

X

X

X

*

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