Line list
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Build an outbreak line list and calculate incidence and prevalence from case data.
1. Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2. Start the work
Open the case data and create columns for case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome.
Show all 5 required steps
- Open the case data and create columns for case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome.
- Enter each case as one row in the line list.
- Count new cases in a defined period to find incidence.
- Count total active cases to find prevalence.
- Write one observation about how the outbreak is changing.
Lost your place? Lost your place? You are building the line list. Check your table has columns for case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome (step 1), make sure every case is its own row (step 2), then count new cases in the period for incidence (step 3) and active cases now for prevalence (step 4).
Check your work before submitting
- Your line list captures each case with key fields.
- You correctly calculated incidence and prevalence.
Before lab work: read the safety rules
- Wear the required PPE, keep the bench clear, handle equipment only as directed, and know where the eyewash, sink, and spill kit are before you start.
- Human samples and data stay private: label with a code, never a name, and dispose of materials in the correct waste container, then wash your hands.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Outbreak line list with case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome for each case, plus calculated incidence, prevalence, and a written trend observation.
How to submit and name your file
Use the submission route shown on today's today's page.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: Effective outbreak control balances individual rights against community health data, because a measure that ignores the evidence is unethical and a measure that ignores rights loses the public trust it needs to work. Today: A line list is the foundational epidemiological tool because standardizing each case into one dated row is what lets you calculate incidence and prevalence and see whether the outbreak is speeding up.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: A is the foundational epidemiological tool because standardizing each case into one dated row is what lets you calculate incidence and prevalence and see whether the outbreak is speeding up.
- 0-5 minWarm-up: what information would you record for every new COVID case?
- 5-20 minOpen case data; set up with required columns
- 20-40 minEnter all cases as rows; double-check onset dates and outcomes
- 40-55 minCalculate incidence and prevalence for the assigned time window
- 55-70 minWrite one observation about outbreak trend from your calculations
- 70-80 minExit ticket: report your incidence and prevalence numbers
- • Epidemiologists track outbreaks case by case using a structured spreadsheet called a .
- • Today you'll build one from raw case data and then calculate the two most important outbreak metrics.
- • Incidence tells you how fast the outbreak is growing. Prevalence tells you how bad it is right now.
- • By the end of class you'll have a complete and both calculations checked.
- • Each row in a represents one case with standardized fields.
- • Incidence counts new cases over a defined time period in a defined population.
- • Prevalence counts all current cases at a single point in time.
PLTW connection and today's work
Open Problem 5 in your myPLTW course shell and navigate to the current activity, then build an outbreak line list and calculate incidence and prevalence from case data.
Today's stopping point: The public health debate is done; line list work is an early Problem 5 milestone, so check your activity guide and submit by end of today.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Project 5.1.1 Disease Detectives
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Finish the assigned lab safely before starting extra practice.
Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
Effective outbreak control balances individual rights against community health data, because a measure that ignores the evidence is unethical and a measure that ignores rights loses the public trust it needs to work.
A is the foundational epidemiological tool because standardizing each case into one dated row is what lets you calculate incidence and prevalence and see whether the outbreak is speeding up.
Wet footprints appear across connected rooms after one person enters from the rain.
- Which footprint came first?
- Which rooms connect?
- What pattern would support more than one entry point?
Patterns across time and connection can narrow a explanation without proving it by themselves.
People change behavior, infections have periods, and surveillance data can be incomplete.
- • Footprints map to recorded cases.
- • Room connections map to exposures.
- • The route hypothesis maps to a limited claim.
Driving question: Given a stack of case reports with no order to them, can you build a that tells you whether this outbreak is speeding up or slowing down?
What you already know: Effective outbreak control balances individual rights against community health data, because a measure that ignores the evidence is unethical and a measure that ignores rights loses the public trust it needs to work.
New idea: A is the foundational epidemiological tool because standardizing each case into one dated row is what lets you calculate incidence and prevalence and see whether the outbreak is speeding up.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Line list. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled system, test, or design relationship and identify which evidence should trigger revision.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in .
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Patterns across time and connection can narrow a explanation without proving it by themselves.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: Given a stack of case reports with no order to them, can you build a that tells you whether this outbreak is speeding up or slowing down?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • incidence: The number of new cases of a disease that appear in a population during a set period of time.
- • prevalence: The share of a population that has a particular disease or condition at a given time, often shown as a percentage.
- • morbidity: The presence or rate of disease and illness in a population, describing how often people are sick rather than how many die.
- • mortality: A measure of death within a population, often expressed as the number of deaths from a cause over a set period.
- • : Finding and notifying people who were near someone with an infectious disease so they can be tested, watched, or isolated to slow spread.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
Patterns across person, place, and time can narrow an outbreak hypothesis, but they require case definitions, comparison data, and laboratory or epidemiological confirmation before a source is established.
Limit: A classroom map or curve can support a limited hypothesis and next investigation step, not a confirmed source or individual diagnosis.
Patterns across time and connection can narrow a explanation without proving it by themselves.
Limit: People change behavior, infections have periods, and surveillance data can be incomplete.
Your captures each case with key fields.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-BFH-2027-04-21 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: biomedical design team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from supports before submitting the labeled and result claim named on today's page.
- • Rebuild every into rows with the same fields, including onset date, then count new cases per week.
- • Keep the case reports in the order they arrived and list each patient name neatly down the first column.
- • Nobody has written a case definition saying which reports count, so set that rule before counting weekly cases.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the labeled and result claim.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about . It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from supports before submitting the labeled and result claim named on today's page.
Context: Before anyone can control an outbreak, someone has to build an organized record of who got sick and when, because you cannot act on a pattern you have not made visible.
- • T1: Open the case data and create columns for case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome.
- • T2: Enter each case as one row in the .
- • T3: Count new cases in a defined period to find incidence.
- • T4: Count total active cases to find prevalence.
- • T5: Write one observation about how the outbreak is changing.
- • E1: Patterns across person, place, and time can narrow an outbreak hypothesis, but they require case definitions, comparison data, and laboratory or epidemiological confirmation before a source is established.
- • E2: Patterns across time and connection can narrow a explanation without proving it by themselves.
- • E3: Your captures each case with key fields.
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for . Trace the labeled system, test, or design relationship and identify which evidence should trigger revision. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Graph the on x and the measured on y. Slope = change in y / change in x.
A measured value rises from 4 to 10 while x rises from 1 to 3. Slope = (10 - 4) / (3 - 1) = 3 y-units per x-unit.
Label both axes and units. Describe the visible trend before proposing a cause.
Use today's supplied data to make or interpret the graph, calculate a change when requested, and state one evidence limit.
Students often think Students think a is just a neat list of names, so any order will do and the columns do not really matter.. The trap: The trap is that a only becomes useful when every row uses the same standardized fields, especially onset date, because you calculate incidence by counting new cases within a time window, and you cannot do that if the dates are missing, inconsistent, or buried in prose.
Line list (one row per case), gastrointestinal outbreak:
- Case 1: onset day 1, symptoms vomiting/diarrhea, outcome recovered
- Case 2: onset day 1, symptoms diarrhea, outcome recovered
- Case 3: onset day 2, symptoms vomiting, outcome still sick
- Case 4: onset day 3, symptoms diarrhea/fever, outcome still sick
- Case 5: onset day 4, symptoms vomiting, outcome still sick
Incidence (new cases) by day: day 1 = 2, day 2 = 1, day 3 = 1, day 4 = 1.
Prevalence on day 4 (all still sick on day 4): 3 cases (cases 3, 4, 5).
Trend observation: New cases appeared every day through day 4, so the outbreak was still ongoing and had not yet peaked.
| Case ID | Onset day | Symptoms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Vomiting/diarrhea | Recovered |
| 2 | 1 | Diarrhea | Recovered |
| 3 | 2 | Vomiting | Still sick |
| 4 | 3 | Diarrhea/fever | Still sick |
| 5 | 4 | Vomiting | Still sick |
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the Problem 5 line-list step: a case-by-case line list with key fields plus calculated incidence and prevalence and a trend observation.
- Name the variables and include units.
- Enter observations without changing the raw values.
- Check labels, calculations, and patterns before interpreting the data.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit your line list and calculations on Schoology today.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Line list. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Classroom documents for this lesson are posted in Schoology. Open Clever, then Schoology, and find each one by the name shown on its card.
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched intervention and epidemiology by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-5_Public-Health-Issue/00_Problem-Overview; keywords:public health, epidemiology, outbreak. Score 154. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched intervention and epidemiology by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-5_Public-Health-Issue/00_Problem-Overview; keywords:public health, epidemiology, outbreak. Score 154. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this after the required lesson work when you are ready for a harder application or a deeper connection.
Placement rationale
Matched intervention and epidemiology by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-5_Public-Health-Issue/5.1_Public-Health-Issue; keywords:public health, epidemiology, outbreak. Score 146. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Sign in to Clever with your district Microsoft account to open Schoology or myPLTW. Follow today's posted steps. If myPLTW will not open, use the posted alternative and tell Mr. Mendoza. Turn in your completed work through the Schoology assignment.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about . It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Your line list has 50 total rows. This week, 12 people had their onset date, and by today 8 of the earlier cases have recovered. How many active cases (prevalence) are there right now, and what is this week's incidence?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
Run this before you touch the bench. It is built from the real lab procedure, so the decisions you make here are the ones you will make with the equipment in your hands.
I can name the procedure's purpose and the evidence I will record. I can state today's specific hazards and the control for each. If this deck does not name them, I ask Mr. Mendoza before I touch anything. My data table is ready before materials are handled.
Finish the checklist before you handle any material.
- • Wear the required PPE, keep the bench clear, handle equipment only as directed, and know where the eyewash, sink, and spill kit are before you start.
- • Human samples and data stay private: label with a code, never a name, and dispose of materials in the correct waste container, then wash your hands.
- 1Before materials are handled, identify the purpose, variables or comparison, controls, measurement units, and stop-work condition.
- 2Open the case data and create columns for case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome.
- 3Enter each case as one row in the line list.
- 4Count new cases in a defined period to find incidence.
- 5Count total active cases to find prevalence.
- 6Write one observation about how the outbreak is changing.
- 7Record each result in the prepared table before interpreting it. Mark missing, repeated, or invalid results truthfully.
- 8Complete the named cleanup and waste route, remove PPE safely, wash hands when required, and confirm the station is ready for the next group.
| Trial or sample ID | Independent condition | Measured result with units | Observation before interpretation | Quality-control note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Before the procedure, predict the result and cite the rule behind the prediction.
After the procedure, compare the result with the prediction and name one limitation or source of uncertainty.
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Open the provided spreadsheet outbreak dataset, build a , and compute incidence and prevalence for the assigned time window.
CDC epidemiology trainingUse the submission route shown on today's today's page.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
CDC: Principles of EpidemiologyYou've passed Unit 2, so the optional extra-credit track is open. Complete reserved-unit work from home, including virtual labs, for extra credit. Each item shows its correct submission route.
Open the extra-credit track- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
- Error analysis and method · counts doubleName a specific limit of the method and how it moved your result, and compare what you predicted to what happened. "Human error" does not count; say what about the procedure or instrument caused it.
This week
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