We had three cases here in Texas One person who traveled from Liberia who came down with his symptoms after his entrance into the U.S. and two health care workers who took care of him. We have a new suspected case in NYC and some states are talking mandatory 21 day quarantine for health care workers. However, read, listen or watch the news and you would believe a pandemic has occurred.
Fear is taking over.
One of the best times for teaching is when a learning opportunity pops up. That is linking an event to your curriculum that students can easily relate to personally. Do a critical thinking exercise with your students about the Ebola situation. Doesn't matter what subject you are teaching. Science and humanities all have a link to the U.S. response to Ebola. Have the students investigate what is true, what is sensation and what is outright lies or manipulations.
Here are some starters:
How big is the continent of Africa? Click here to see a map of Africa compared to the size of the US, which is not a continent. Remember, Africa is a continent that: houses the smallest and largest people on Earth, has the largest variances of skin color from white to black and thousands of languages and dialects.
Where are the Ebola outbreaks and how does this affect us? BBC News Map
What is the news saying to fuel or smooth fear? Cable News Commentary. Fox News Shepard Smith Rush Limbaugh BBC New Special Report Dallas DiningWhat are the health care organizations saying? World Health Organization US Center for Health Control and Prevention. National Institute of Health
Ask the students to bring in what they are seeing or hearing on the news, blogs and just plain gossip. Do they believe there is reason to fear an Ebola outbreak in South Texas? Make rules. 1. The information they bring into the discussion must come from a valid source. 2. The students must state what their qualifications of a valid source are. 3. Everyone needs to be respectful of others in the discussion. The discussion needs to be civil.
For more information about critical thinking activities, contact Betsy Price at the Center for Teaching and Learning. If you have some examples of critical thinking activities, please share them on this blog.
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