How can you tell if harmful bacteria are in your food or water that might make you sick? What you eat or drink can be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites and toxins—pathogens that can be harmful or even fatal. Students learn which contaminants have the greatest health risks and how they enter the food supply. While food supply contaminants can be identified from cultures grown in labs, bioengineers are creating technologies to make the detection of contaminated food quicker, easier and more effective.

In this video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey, learn about bubonic plague and how city officials in San Francisco tried to contain its spread in the early 1900s..

The rate of obesity continues to climb in the United States in all age groups. National reports, including the Trust for America’s Health annual report State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America, highlight key findings and policy recommendations. The need to continue to work towards stabilization of the obesity epidemic could not be more important as consequences of this chronic disease can be dire, potentially affecting physical health with an increase in risk for chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer as well as potentially affecting behavioral health. Curbing the high rates of obesity is particularly of importance when considering the prevalence of childhood obesity, which is on the rise not only in the United States but is also increasing globally. Although there are certain risk factors such as genetics that are not modifiable in this group, there are many dietary, physical activity and environmental factors that are modifiable through lifestyle changes. This course will explore ways to address these lifestyle changes for children through adults with both federally- and NGO- based community interventions that are working towards combating overweight and obesity and how they aim to do so with a health equity lens in mind.

Introduction to Personal Health covers four topics:

Health and disease, influence of family and community
Culture, beliefs, attitudes, and stigmatized illnesses
Leading causes of death, risk factors, and prevention
Three levels of health promotion/disease prevention

Students will practice communicating medical problems they might come across. Students will also practice finding solutions for certain medical issues. 

In this activity, students will practice providing remedies for illnesses. Students will also practice discussing home remedies they used growing up.

In this activity, students will practice providing remedies for illnesses. Students will also practice discussing home remedies they used growing up.

Students will practice talking about medical issues they may come across. Students will also practice coming up with solutions to common health issues.

Title: A Global View of HIV InfectionCourse of Origin: Population Change and Public HealthKeywords: aids, disease, global, hiv, illness, infection, map, outbreak, spread, transmission, worldTopic Areas: Adolescent Health, Global Health, HIV/AIDS, Infectious DiseaseCitation Format: "A Global View of HIV Infection" from Population Change and Public Health. Copyright © Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

Learn why heart disease, a largely preventable condition, is the leading cause of death in this country today, in this video adapted from The Hidden Epidemic: Heart Disease in America.

In this lesson, students will be asked to determine what is wrong with a patient that is displaying symptoms of rabies.  Then the students will be asked what causes sickness in animals.  Then they will research the causes of illness and disease in animals with the Go Get It e-Moment.  A discussion about how to prevent illness and disease will lead to an understanding of biosecurity.  The students will then use what they have learned to complete a health plan for an animal in their lives.NE.AFNR.HS.28.5.a or NE.AFNR.HS.29.3.b

In this video segment from Greater Boston, learn about conflicting theories regarding the cause of autism.

This course provides an exploration of colonial and postcolonial clashes between theories of healing and embodiment in the African world and those of western bio-medicine. It examines how Afro-Atlantic religious traditions have challenged western conceptions of illness, healing, and the body and have also offered alternative notions of morality, rationality, kinship, gender, and sexuality. It also analyzes whether contemporary western bio-medical interventions reinforce colonial or imperial power in the effort to promote global health in Africa and the African diaspora.

In this project, you will explore a real-world problem, and then work through a series of steps to analyze that problem, research ways the problem could be solved, then propose a possible solution to that problem. Often, there is no specific right or wrong solutions, but sometimes one particular solution may be better than others. The key is making sure you fully understand the problem, have researched some possible solutions, and have proposed the solution that you can support with information / evidence.Begin by reading the problem statement in Step 1. Take the time to review all of the information provided in the statement, including exploring the websites, videos and / or and articles that are linked. Then work on steps 2 through 8 to complete this problem-based learning experience.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students study a disease outbreak and the investigation that followed to understand the role that public health workers play in protecting the communities they serve.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the polio epidemic and vaccine. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

How can you tell if harmful bacteria are growing in your food? Students learn to culture bacteria in order to examine ground meat and bagged salad samples, looking for common foodborne bacteria such as E. coli or salmonella. After 2-7 days of incubation, they observe and identify the resulting bacteria. Based on their first-hand experiences conducting this conventional biological culturing process, they consider its suitability in meeting society's need for ongoing detection of harmful bacteria in its food supply, leading them to see the need for bioengineering inventions for rapid response bio-detection systems.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.