Week 25 · Term Three · Epidemics, evidence and public health
Compare cholera deaths by water company like John Snow, map the Broad Street pump, work out the herd immunity threshold for measles, decide what a hospital should do with Semmelweis’s handwashing data, and write the brief a health officer gives a town.
Monday turns raw death counts into fair rates. Tuesday follows Snow’s map to one water pump. Wednesday shows when an outbreak grows or fades. Thursday asks what to do when strong evidence is ignored. Friday writes a public health brief.
25 minutes
Rates · Compare fairly, not by raw counts
Turn raw counts into rates so groups of different sizes can be compared fairly, and use a rate to test an idea about what causes disease.
Make
A rate table
Brief handoff: The rate table is filed. Tomorrow Snow follows the deaths to a single street pump.
25 minutes
Evidence · A pattern, its exceptions, and a test
Follow how a scientist builds a case from a pattern, explains the exceptions, and tests the idea, and tell evidence apart from a popular belief.
Make
A pump map
Brief handoff: The pump map is filed. Tomorrow you do the math that explains why vaccines protect people who can't get them.
25 minutes
Math · How one case becomes an outbreak
Use percent and multiplication to see when an outbreak grows or fades, and explain why community immunity protects people who can't be vaccinated.
Make
An outbreak model
Brief handoff: The outbreak model is filed. Tomorrow a doctor has the evidence, but the other doctors refuse to listen.
25 minutes
Science and society · When the evidence is ignored
Compare data before and after a change, and argue for acting on strong evidence even before the cause is fully understood.
Make
A hospital rule
Brief handoff: The hospital rule is filed. Tomorrow you write the brief a health officer gives a town.
30 minutes
Writing · A brief a town can act on
Write a clear informative brief that states a claim, backs it with rates, explains exceptions, says what to do, and is honest about what is still unknown.
Make
A health brief
Brief handoff: The health brief is filed. Your week's report is ready for the portfolio.
The brief uses only work entered here. It is a family record of this week’s work, not a grade, an attendance record, or proof of mastery.
