Documentary Resource
Title:
Coronavirus Explained. Episode 1: This Pandemic
Information:
- Producer: Vox
- Length: Each episode ranges from 20 to 30 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: The first episode was released April 26th of this year and the following 2 episodes were released June 16th.
Description:
I will mostly be discussing the first episode This Pandemic. This episode focuses mainly on how this virus came to be and why it became so widespread and discusses the history of other viruses. In the episode, there were clips of interviews of experts just months before the first case urging the need to prepare for a pandemic. The second episode covers vaccines and their development, and the third episode focuses more on mental health and how to cope during this time. I chose this docuseries because it was made very recently, it involves interviews with a wide variety of experts. I thought this docuseries made the information very accessible and easy to understand. The outlook in this series is rather positive, which I think is somewhat necessary when learning about the current pandemic.
Video Clip:
Core Integration:
Because the first episode involves a lot of information about past viruses and pandemics, I think that this docuseries could be easily integrated into a history lesson. This history lesson could be about past plagues, infectious diseases, viruses, etc. The docuseries could be uses to compare historical diseases with the current pandemic.
Standards:
NHES Standards
Standard 1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
- PHW1.8.8: Summarize ways that common infectious diseases are transmitted.
- HBO 6 Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.
- PHW1.8.9: Summarize health practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases by food, air, indirect contact, and person-to-person.
- HBO 6 Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.
- HBO 9 Practice behaviors that prevent foodborne illnesses.
Standard 5: Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.
- PHW3.8.4: Explain how family, culture, media, peers, and personal beliefs affect a personal health and wellness-related decision.
Standard 3: Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information, products, and services to enhance health.
- PHW3.8.1: Analyze the validity and reliability of personal health and wellness information.
Common Core History/Social Studies Standards
Film Resource
Title:
Contagion
Information:
- Producers: Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi, and Double Feature Films.
- Length: 106 minutes
- Rating: PG-13
- Release Date: September 2011
Description:
This movie is about a highly contagious and deadly virus that is spreading across the United States and the world. It follows employees of the US Center for Disease Control and its effort to curb the disease. It shows dramatized panic of the general population, misinformation/conspiracy theories, and the devastation these pandemics cause. I think if I were to show this movie in a 6th-8th grade classroom I might have to get some permission slips, there were a few depictions of dying people and seizures. There was also a lot of dramatizations. But I think overall there was some great information in the movie, I think it showed a lot of realistic consequences. It was almost eerie how many similarities there were to this current pandemic. I chose this movie because of how similar it was. It was a little difficult finding a movie about infectious diseases that wasn’t absolutely ridiculous or a zombie movie. Despite some of the over-dramatization it was still rooted which I think is a great representation of a pandemic and the struggle to find a vaccine and curb infection. I think this movie is a great jumping-off point about how harmful misinformation/conspiracies are to the public and how important it is for everyone to do their part to help curb infections or flatten the curve.
Video Clip:
Core Integration:
Like the docuseries, I think that this video could be used in a history lesson easily. We could compare previous pandemics and infectious diseases and how doctors in the past attempted to treat it and the difference to know and how we treat diseases. It could make a great lesson about the history of medicine and technology. We could create a timeline of progress from diseases from history to the current pandemic.
Standards:
NHES Standards
NHES 1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
- PHW1.8.8: Summarize ways that common infectious diseases are transmitted.
- HBO 6 Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.
- PHW1.8.9: Summarize health practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases by food, air, indirect contact, and person-to-person.
- HBO 6 Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.
NHES 5: Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.
- PHW5.8.4: Explain how family, culture, media, peers, and personal beliefs affect a personal health and wellness-related decision.
Common Core History/Social Studies Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment.