Lesson 13: Outbreak

Display: Show “Reflect” slide

Reflect:

• What can cause a virus to spread through a town more quickly?
• What can help slow the spread of a virus down?

The goal of this discussion is for students to have an opportunity to activate prior knowledge and see their ideas on the board. This is also an opportunity to investigate some misconceptions about how viruses spread.

Vocabulary

Display: Show “Vocabulary” slide

• Event - An action that causes something to happen.

• Models and Simulations - a program which replicates or mimics key features of a real world event in order to investigate its behavior without the cost, time, or danger of running an experiment in real life.

Do This: Review the vocabulary, models and simulations with students, by building off of the previous lesson. A simulation is a computer model of a process or system.

Display: Show “Level 1 - Welcome to Monster Town” slide

In today’s lesson, you’re going to “Monster Town” where a virus outbreak is about to happen. Dr. Monster needs your help to slow the spread of the virus.

You will create an outbreak simulator in Sprite Lab, and then use it to understand how a virus can spread. You’ll also help all of the monsters get healthy again!

Do This: Read Welcome to Monster Town as a class.

Display: Show “Welcome to Monster Town” slide

Monster Town was usually a happy and healthy place. The monsters of Monster town loved to wander around to visit their friends.

One day, one of the monsters started feeling sick. The monster had caught a virus! A virus is a tiny germ that can make you sick. The other monsters were not too worried. They kept visiting their friends.

Display: Show next “Welcome to Monster Town” slide

Soon after, two more monsters got sick. It was the same virus! It seems they got the virus from their friend.

The virus slowly spread to other monsters who were nearby. The healthy monsters began to worry that they were all going to get sick. The sick monsters began to worry that they were going to give the virus to everyone else.

Display: Show “Stopping the Spread” slide

Fortunately, after studying the virus, the neighbors of Monster Town made an important discovery. They realized that they were less likely to spread the virus if they wore masks over their mouths. With face masks on, sick monsters were less likely to give the virus to healthy monsters.

Display: Show “What Will Happen Next?” slide

Today, you're going to write code to create and run your own simulation of the virus outbreak at Monster Town. A simulation is a computer model of a process or system. Learn to code and make predictions about what will happen to the neighbors of Monster Town.

• How quickly will the virus spread?
• Will everyone get sick?
• How will face masks help?

Display: Show next “What Will Happen Next?” slide

When you're finished, share your simulation with others. Share your message about what you think we can do to help keep others healthy when a virus comes to town.

Do This: Review the vocabulary, models and simulations with students, by building off of the previous lesson. A simulation is a computer model of a process or system.

Today, we will make a place like Monster Town come alive by writing some code.

In this simulation, you’re going to use sprites to represent the different monsters. The sprites will have different costumes to tell us things like whether they are sick or healthy. You’ll also use behaviors to get the monsters moving.

Finally, you’ll use events to change the costume of a sprite when two sprites touch on this screen. This will represent one monster passing the virus to another. You will make predictions about what will happen to the neighbors of Monster Town, and help them get healthy again!

Display: Show “Outbreak Simulator: Introduction” video

The event blocks in this lesson are more advanced than what students have used so far in the course. Make sure students know that they can expand the green event blocks by pressing the + button. Students are working with lots of sprites today. Normally, commands in Sprite Lab affect all of the sprites with the same costume. The blocks inside the event block will make it so each attached action only affects the sprites that were involved in that event.

Display: Show “Level 3 - Creating a Simulation” slide

Do This: Transition students to their computers, and have them begin following the instructions for each level in the skill building section. If students finish this section early, they can continue experimenting with their code in Level 7 until the class is ready to move on.

Display: Show “Outbreak Simulator: Events” video

Display: Show “Level 5-7 - Skill Building” slide

Display: Show “Outbreak Simulator: Think Like a Scientist” video

Do This: Bring the class back together to watch Outbreak Simulator: Thinking Like a Scientist. Use the ideas in level 9 to discuss the video and help frame the rest of the lesson.

Display: Show “Level 9 - Reset and Replay!” slide

Even when you write the code yourself, it's impossible to know exactly what will happen when you press run. The monsters wander randomly, so you don't know if the virus will spread fast or slow. Whenever you change your code, make sure to run your simulation more than once. Things won't happen the same way twice!

Display: Show “Collecting Data” slide

Try writing down your observations as you run your simulation. You can count the number of monsters that get sick or use a timer to see how fast things happen. For example, how long does it usually take for all monsters to get sick if none have masks?

Display: Show “Making Predictions” slide

If you understand your model, you can use it to make predictions. You can even change how your simulation runs and guess what will happen differently. For example:

• What would happen if there were twice as many monsters?
• What would happen if the monsters moved at half the speed?

Display: Show “Is Monster Town like the real world?” slide

There is a limit to how realistic any model can get.

• What does your outbreak simulation have in common with real world virus outbreaks?
• What are the differences? When you finish this activity, discuss these questions with teachers or your family!

Display: Show “What else can we model?” slide

You have already created a working model of the outbreak at Monster Town. What are the things your simulation can't do or show that you wish it could? Press continue to keep going and learn to model even more:

• Increasing the number of monsters in the simulation
• Helping monsters recover from the virus
• Probability, immunity, vaccines, and more!

You can also share your simulation model with others, or share a message about what you think we can do to help keep others healthy when a virus comes to town.

Display: Show “Level 10-12 - Mini-Project” slide

Do this: Transition students back to their computers, and have them work through the remaining levels. Some of these levels offer optional challenges. Encourage students to read the instructions carefully and to experiment with their simulations.

Display: Show “Outbreak Simulator: Free Play” video

Display: Show “Level 14 - Mini-Project” slide

Simulations are a great way to learn things that can be hard to observe in the real world. They help scientists solve problems, predict how to solve the problem, and test new ideas safely and efficiently. Your simulation is a way to show how a virus outbreak in Monster Town might look.

Display: Show “Discuss” slide

Discuss:

• How can simulations be helpful in the real world?
• How can simulations improve the way we test out ideas?

The goal of the discussion is for students to understand that simulations are a way to model complex systems in an interactive way. They should also see how simulations let people test out ideas quickly, cheaply and safely.

Display: Show “Reflect” slide

Reflect:

• How is this simulation like the real world? How is it different?
• What would you want to change/add to your simulation?