Lab - The Spread of Disease



Learning Intentions

  • To learn how a disease spreads through a population.


Materials

  • Rubber gloves
  • Beaker containing clear liquid
  • Phenolphthalein


Procedure

  1. Everyone will get a beaker that contains a clear liquid. Do not drink the liquid.
  2. The whole class will gather in a circle, and a random student will be chosen to be the initial transmitter. This student will choose a classmate to be the receiver. The transmitter will walk over to the receiver. The transmitter will take the receiver’s beaker, and will mix the contents of the two beakers together. After mixing well, the transmitter splits the contents between the two beakers and returns one beaker to the receiver. The transmitter then returns to their original place in the circle.
  3. Everyone notes the receiver in the data chart.
  4. The person to the transmitter’s left is now the new transmitter, and chooses a person to be the receiver.
  5. At the end of the loop, every student places a sample from their beaker in a test tube.
  6. This continues until at least two loops have been completed, and everyone in the circle has been the transmitter twice. Each person must choose two different classmates to be receivers.
  7. After everyone has transmitted twice, each student will add a drop of phenolphthalein to every test tube with the samples. If the “disease” is present, the clear liquid will turn pink.


Data Table

Everyone in the class should have the same data table.


Student Receiver 1 Receiver 2
Infected After
Round 1?
Infected After
Round 2?
 
 
 
 
 
 


Questions

  1. Using logical reasoning, who was/were the original carrier(s) of the disease?
  2. If this disease had a 20% mortality rate (i.e. 20% of the people who contract it will die), how many people in our class would have died?
  3. Name 3 things that can be done to reduce the spread of infectious disease.
  4. In what ways does SARS2 spread differently than the disease in this game?
  5. How could you incorporate vaccines into the game?
  6. How else could you change the game to be more accurate?