Outbreak line lists, incidence/prevalence, controls, intervention design.
What to do if absent- 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 — you open it through Schoology.
Week overview - Investigating an Outbreak: line lists, incidence, and intervention design
Build an outbreak line list, calculate incidence and prevalence, and design a control measure to slow the spread.
- 1Open the provided outbreak dataset and set up a line list with one row per case.
- 2Add columns for onset date, symptoms, and whether the person recovered.
- 3Count new cases over the period and calculate incidence for the population given.
- 4Calculate prevalence and write one sentence on how it differs from incidence.
- 5Identify a likely transmission pattern and propose one control measure to interrupt it.
- 6Write one sentence on how contact tracing would support your intervention.
- • You will be able to organize cases into a usable line list.
- • You will be able to calculate and distinguish incidence and prevalence.
- • You will be able to propose a control measure justified by the data.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
One sentence citing outbreak data (incidence or prevalence) to support your liberty or protection position.
Outbreak line list with case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome for each case, plus calculated incidence, prevalence, and a written trend observation.
Intervention model with chosen measure, target population, incidence-change prediction, before-and-after epidemic curve sketch, and one stated limitation.
Public health intervention plan combining line list, incidence and prevalence calculations, intervention model with epidemic curve, data-backed recommendation, one success metric, and citations.
Quick intro to the week
- Hook: when an outbreak hits, the line list is the detective's notebook that reveals how disease moves.
- Today's goal: turn raw case data into numbers that drive a real intervention.
- Monday bioethics debate fits: can public health require people to isolate against their wishes?
- Reminder: your graded outbreak analysis is submitted in the PLTW course shell.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance your PLTW public health problem by completing your line-list analysis and intervention proposal in the online course shell.
- • Incidence counts new cases over time while prevalence counts all current cases.
- • Contact tracing identifies and follows up exposed individuals to slow spread.
- • Build a line list and calculate incidence and prevalence.
- • Propose a control measure justified by outbreak data.
📋 PLTW evidence due: a completed line list, incidence and prevalence calculations, and an intervention proposal in the course shell.
All PLTW activities are completed inside the PLTW course environment — this page only gives direction.
This week's PLTW tracker
Your week at a glance. Check off each deliverable as you finish it, then submit so Mr. Mendoza can see how the class is pacing.
Use the code Mr. Mendoza gave you, not your name. Saved on this device.
| Day | Date | Focus | Key deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Mon, Apr 5 | Public health debate | One sentence citing outbreak data (incidence or prevalence) to support your liberty or protection position. |
| Tuesday | Tue, Apr 6 | Line list | Outbreak line list with case ID, onset date, symptoms, and outcome for each case, plus calculated incidence, prevalence, and a written trend observation. |
| Thursday | Wed, Apr 7 | Intervention model | Intervention model with chosen measure, target population, incidence-change prediction, before-and-after epidemic curve sketch, and one stated limitation. |
| Friday | Thu, Apr 8 | Intervention plan | Public health intervention plan combining line list, incidence and prevalence calculations, intervention model with epidemic curve, data-backed recommendation, one success metric, and citations. |
- M: public health debate
- T: line list
- W: no school
- Th: intervention model
- F: intervention plan
Due by week's end: Public health intervention plan.
Lab day — what to bring & watch
This explainer accompanies the PLTW lab protocol — watch it before lab.
What to do when absent
Most days, this class is your PLTW coursework — and PLTW is online and individual. So being out usually just means doing exactly what we did in class, from home.
Open Schoology (CMSD) and keep goingHow to get there: open the CMSD website, click Clever, sign in with your Microsoft (district) account, then open Schoology from Clever.
You can't do those from home — do this instead: Spreadsheet outbreak dataset.
Class still runs. A substitute will post today's plan — complete the online activity above; it's built to be self-guided. Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
CDC: Principles of EpidemiologyVocabulary
Virtual resources
Teacher-posted resources
Classroom documents for this lesson. Ones marked “Open the file” open right here; the rest are posted in Schoology. Use the label on each card to choose the right move.
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Public health 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 Public health 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 Public health 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).
How to get there: open the CMSD website, click Clever, sign in with your Microsoft (district) account, then open Schoology from Clever.
Standards this week
WebXam practice
Drop your Week 11 here. Use a clear file name (your initials + project). Routine work still goes to Schoology (via the CMSD portal).
Upload a project