SciREN Lesson Plan Portal

• Name: Emily Herring, Megan Lott, Christina Welch
• Position and Institution: PhD Students, University of Georgia
• Contact: echerring[at]uga.edu
• Year contributed: 2021

• Grade Level: 3-5, 5-8
• Georgia Standards of Excellence: S5L3. a, b, c; S5L4. a, b

In this self-guided workbook, students will learn the foundations of wildlife epidemiology! That is, students will learn how scientists study infectious diseases in wildlife. Through a combination of summaries, comics, pictures, short sections of text, activities, students will: (1) Articulate that wildlife are affected by diseases, even in a National Park (2) Describe 4 different types of parasites that cause infectious diseases (bacteria, viruses, fungi, mites) (3) Explore how different wildlife species, as well as humans, are connected through their shared infectious diseases (4) Evaluate strategies to prevent infectious diseases (5) Identify careers in wildlife disease research, prevention, and management

This workbook was originally designed to be paired with a visit to Yellowstone National Park, but the examples are relevant to contemporary issues in wildlife conservation and disease management. The self-guided activity book can be accessed by any student! The workbook highlights learning objectives from Georgia’s Fifth Grade Science Curriculum Map relating to Cells and Microbiology. Notably, the workbook emphasizes cross-cutting concepts of systems and system models as well as scale, proportion, and quantity. Students will reflect upon these core ideas: (1) Microorganisms are important to habitats and life cycles (2) Microorganisms can be helpful or harmful (3) Magnification tools are needed to observe very small things (4) Like animals and plants, microbes need nutrients to survive (5) Bacteria and viruses are different in structure to plant and animal cells

• wildlife
• microbes
• diseases
• natural systems
• environment
• ecology
• veterinary medicine
• public health

• Activity Book