Launch
🦠 Outbreak Evidence Café
Learn from the past
Engage and critique perspectives
Gather and organize original data
Analyze and interpret data
Develop an inquiry plan
Develop as a multilingual
Engage in discussion
6.3.12.HistoryCA.12
6.1.12.GeoHE.5.a
Plan an investigation or test a design individually and c...
Design, evaluate, and/or refine a solution to a complex r...
HS-ETS1-1
6.3.12.GeoGI.1
Compare and evaluate competing arguments or design soluti...
Product
Core Content
Project Launch
Community Partners
Essential Question
Submission Required
Students rotate through station sets with Black Death trade-route maps, modern infection-rate graphs, clinic concern cards, multilingual public health messages, and short case summaries. In teams, they annotate patterns, questions, and surprises on chart paper, then hear a nearby clinic or hospital partner respond to selected student questions about infection spread in shared community spaces. The class closes by posting an initial claim about what makes disease prevention effective and one question they want to investigate first.
Plan day
Day 1
Duration
80 min
Grouping
Small Group
Steps
9 steps
Lesson plan
9 steps · 80 min| # | What teachers do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Launch the entry event by welcoming teams, naming the essential question, and introducing the evidence café protocol, discussion norms, and annotation categories: patterns, questions, surprises, perspectives, and possible prevention ideas. (8 min) |
| 2 | Model one station quickly with the class by examining a sample graph or map, thinking aloud about how to notice trends, compare historical and modern evidence, and record observations without jumping to conclusions. (8 min) |
| 3 | Rotate through Station Round 1 in teams. Students examine Black Death trade-route maps and short historical case summaries, then add annotated notes to team chart paper about spread patterns, movement, density, and historical parallels worth investigating. (12 min) |
| 4 | Rotate through Station Round 2 in teams. Students examine modern infection-rate graphs and data displays, identify trends or possible relationships, and record quantitative observations, questions about variables, and limits of the data. (12 min) |
| 5 | Rotate through Station Round 3 in teams. Students examine clinic concern cards and multilingual public health messages, discuss whose needs are visible or missing, and note language-access issues, audience concerns, and ethical tradeoffs for prevention efforts. (12 min) |
| 6 | Pause for a mini gallery walk. Teams leave one response card at another team’s evidence board naming one strong observation and one question or gap, then return to read the feedback and add one revision or clarification to their chart. (8 min) |
| 7 | Facilitate a community partner question segment in which a nurse, epidemiologist, or infection-control specialist responds to selected student questions about infection spread in shared community spaces, with students adding new evidence and revised thinking to their notes. (10 min) |
| 8 | Lead teams in synthesizing the evidence into a first problem statement: what seems to make disease spread more likely, what community need feels most urgent, and what prevention criteria or constraints are already emerging. (5 min) |
| 9 | Close with an individual-to-team exit post. Each student drafts one initial evidence-based claim and one priority investigation question; teams then post a shared version that will carry into the next activity. (5 min) |
Preparation (10 items)
- Curate and print station materials: Black Death trade-route maps, short historical case summaries, modern infection-rate graphs, clinic concern cards, and multilingual public health messages with readable visuals and age-appropriate text.
- Set up at least five clearly labeled stations with chart paper, markers, sticky notes, and response cards; label each chart with annotation headings such as patterns, questions, surprises, perspectives, and prevention ideas.
- Prepare one modeled example for the opening demonstration that shows how to annotate a map or graph using evidence-based observations and questions.
- Coordinate with the clinic or hospital partner in advance, share the lesson purpose and timing, and confirm whether they will attend live, join virtually, or provide recorded responses to likely student questions.
- Preselect or collect a short list of possible partner questions in case students need support generating them during the activity.
- Create team roles for rotation rounds such as reader, recorder, discussion lead, and evidence checker to keep participation balanced.
- Prepare multilingual supports, including key vocabulary cards for outbreak, transmission, prevention, rate, trade route, evidence, claim, and constraint; include sentence stems for discussion and annotation.
- Post discussion norms that emphasize using evidence, listening for multiple perspectives, and distinguishing observation from assumption.
- Arrange the room for movement between stations and leave wall space for the mid-activity gallery walk and final posted claims/questions.
- Prepare an exit posting template for each student and team with prompts for one claim, one question, and one piece of evidence.
Student-facing instructions
You will work with your team to investigate outbreak evidence at several stations. At each station, your task is to closely examine the materials, talk through what you notice, and record your ideas on your team chart paper using the categories patterns, questions, surprises, perspectives, and prevention ideas. You will need your team chart, markers, sticky notes, and any vocabulary supports provided. As you rotate, use evidence from maps, graphs, case summaries, clinic concern cards, and multilingual messages to compare past and present outbreaks, identify factors that may affect disease spread, and notice whose needs are represented. During the gallery walk, you will leave one response card for another team with one strong observation and one question or gap. When the clinic or hospital partner responds to questions, add any new information that changes or strengthens your thinking. By the end, you will post one initial claim about what makes disease prevention effective and one investigation question your team wants to pursue next.