DISEASE ACTIVITIES

Super Bugs: Bacterial Drug Resistance

Overview of Activity
This is a lesson plan geared towards teaching students through a modeled experience about the effectiveness of antibiotics, disease transmission, and the impacts of antibiotic resistance.

Activity Type: In Class Activity
URLs: http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/secretsofthesequence/showdetail.asp?id=7
Grade Level: 7-12
Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Amount of Time Required for Activity: One 40-minute Class Period
Recommended Uses:
Prior to attending exhibit, this may be used as an activity to engage students in thinking about microbial evolution and its impact on disease transmission. It may be better suited as an introductory activity.
After visiting the exhibit, this activity may be used to reinforce and highlight microbial evolution and how it affects populations.

Description
In this activity, students model a population with a bacterial disease spreading through it. They first watch a video clip that discusses bacteria, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance. After viewing the video, they will participate in an activity where each student will receive a paper bag with different colored square pieces of construction paper in it. They will then go through a series of " rounds" where they will exchange pieces of construction paper, which symbolize fragments of DNA. Students will record the data and discuss what occurred from the perspective of antibiotic resistance and how it can "spread" through a bacterial population based on certain factors.

This activity was designed by the Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Department.

Relation to the Science Standards
High School
Content Standard C - The Cell
Content Standard C - Biological Evolution
Content Standard C - Behavior of Organisms
Content Standard F - Personal and Community Health
Content Standard F - Science and Technology in Local, National, and Global Challenges (high school)
Content Standard G - Science as a Human Endeavor and Historical Perspectives

Related Part of the Exhibit
Microbial Evolution
Antibiotics and Emerging Drug Resistance

Additional Related Links
Two Doctors Explain A Drug-resistant Super Bug - NewsHour, October 24, 2007
Volunteers Shape Frontlines of TB Fight in Bangladesh - NewsHour, March 27, 2008
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/secretsofthesequence/lessons/
sots_lesson_119_1.pdf