Disease Spread, Science &  Solutions (Epidemiology & Public Health)

About:
Why do some diseases fizzle out while others race through a population? Why do a handful of people or events sometimes cause a huge share of infections? And when an outbreak begins, how do scientists figure out what’s happening — and what to do about it?

In Disease Spread, Science & Solutions (Epidemiology & Public Health), students become disease detectives. They’ll investigate famous outbreaks, trace transmission chains, model how infections spread, and explore everything from the Broad Street cholera outbreak to COVID-19. Students will discover how diseases travel through air, water, surfaces, insects, and people — and why factors like infectious dose, incubation time, ventilation, immunity, and human behavior can completely change what happens next.

Along the way, they'll learn the math and statistics that epidemiologists use to make sense of messy real-world data. What does R₀ actually mean? How can a medical test be highly accurate yet still give a misleading result? What makes an event a superspreader? How can two different conclusions be drawn from the same dataset? Students will practice evaluating evidence, correctly interpreting graphs (even misleading ones), and synthesizing available information into a theory of underlying causation.

Then they'll move from understanding outbreaks to learning about the ways to prevent them. Students will investigate the history of handwashing, sanitation, vaccines, masking, ventilation, quarantine, and other public-health interventions; examine successes and spectacular failures; and wrestle with the real decisions societies face when individual choices affect everyone else.

Expect outbreak simulations, probability games, data investigations, historical mysteries, debates, real-world case studies, and plenty of opportunities to argue with graphs.

No biology prerequisite is required. The course approaches disease through epidemiology — the science of patterns, populations, evidence, risk, and figuring out what works.

High school students may use this course toward homeschool health credit. Families should confirm credit requirements with their homeschool administrator or local district.

Instructors: Stephanie Schmit and Jason Gonsalves