Outbreak CER submission
Do now
Write and submit a complete CER that names the likely pathogen and source for the outbreak case.
- Hand in
- Full CER identifying the outbreak pathogen type and source, with at least three evidence points, a reasoning paragraph, and a proposed confirmatory test.
- Where
- Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
You get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
You have signs, symptoms, a table, and a relationship map. Can you now write one claim that names the pathogen type and the source, and defend it well enough that a skeptical reader agrees?
Write and submit a complete CER that names the likely and source for the outbreak case.
- • You will be able to write a complete CER about an outbreak.
- • You will be able to support a claim with organized evidence.
- • You will be able to propose a to test your conclusion.
- In one sentence, what is the difference between listing your evidence and explaining your reasoning?
- Which single piece of evidence from this week most strongly points to your suspected , and why that one?
- 1State your Claim: the type and the likely source of the outbreak.
- 2List your Evidence from the signs, symptoms, table, and relationship map.
- 3Write the Reasoning that links each piece of evidence to your claim.
- 4Add one sentence on what additional test would confirm your claim.
- 5Proofread for clarity, then submit your CER on the class site.
- 6Confirm the submission shows as turned in and note one thing you would investigate next.
What did this day actually feel like?
Outbreak CER submission
First real CER of the year. Claim, evidence, reasoning. Mine had a reasoning sentence that just restated the claim in new words, which he says is the most common mistake and I have now made it.
Turned in: CER → Claim Evidence Reasoning folder
Fiction. There is no such student. The lessons, labs and dates are the real planned course; the student, the classmates and the conversations are invented.
The same day, drawn.
First real CER of the year. Claim, evidence, reasoning. Mine had a reasoning sentence that just restated the claim in new words, which he says is the most common mistake and I have now made it.
Fiction. There is no such student. The lessons, labs and dates are the real planned course; the student, the classmates and the conversations are invented.
🛠 Get unstuck · pick your level
🔑 Today's words · 5
Tap a word in the lesson for a plain meaning and one example. Recycled into next week's Do-Now.
Do the work · 80-minute blockfirst 5 min = hook▸
💡 Big idea: A CER convinces a reader because its reasoning explains why each piece of evidence supports the claim, so drawing from multiple sources and linking them explicitly turns a week of clues into a defensible conclusion.
- 0-10 minReview your signs/symptoms chart, table, and relationship map from the week
- 10-25 minDraft the Claim: one sentence naming the type and the likely source
- 25-45 minList Evidence: at least three pieces drawn from different sources (clinical, biological, epidemiological)
- 45-60 minWrite the Reasoning paragraph: link each evidence point to the claim explicitly
- 60-70 minAdd the confirmatory test sentence; proofread for clarity and completeness
- 70-80 minSubmit CER on the class site; confirm it shows as turned in
- • This week you gathered clinical clues, knowledge, and an epi-map; today those pieces become one argument.
- • A well-written CER is what a report looks like before it goes to a government agency.
- • You have everything you need; today's job is organization and precision, not new discovery.
- • Exit goal: a submitted CER visible on the class site before you leave.
- • A strong CER draws evidence from multiple sources: clinical signs, biology, and epidemiological data.
- • Reasoning explicitly states why each piece of evidence supports the claim, not just what the evidence is.
- • Proposing a confirmatory test shows scientific thinking beyond the current data.
Outbreak investigation, symptom clusters, pathogen categories, evidence maps. Monday debate: isolation vs. autonomy. · Outbreak CER submission
Day 5 of this lesson. Open this exact section in myPLTW (find it in Clever, Microsoft sign-in), then do the work below.
Do this: Open the CER submission assignment for Activity 1.1.2 Investigating an Outbreak in myPLTW.
Submit your completed outbreak CER before end of class.
Relationship map should be done (Thursday); CER submitted and confirmed today.
Outbreak CER submission visible and confirmed in the course shell.
The official PLTW activity stays inside myPLTW. If myPLTW will not open, use F1 and E1-E3 on this page to complete today's local evidence decision, then make up the official activity when access returns. Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
Check things off as you work, then submit. This tells Mr. Mendoza how you're doing so he can help the class. It does not replace turning in your producible through the submission route shown below.
Use the code Mr. Mendoza gave you, not your name. Saved on this device.
Outbreak investigation, symptom clusters, pathogen categories, evidence maps. Monday debate: isolation vs. autonomy. · Outbreak CER submission
Open the CER submission assignment for Activity 1.1.2 Investigating an Outbreak in myPLTW.
Relationship map should be done (Thursday); CER submitted and confirmed today.
This is how Mr. Mendoza sees the class keeping pace with PLTW. Be honest, it only helps if it is accurate.
🎯 Write and submit a complete CER that names the likely and source for the outbreak case.
- State your Claim: the type and the likely source of the outbreak.
- List your Evidence from the signs, symptoms, table, and relationship map.
- Write the Reasoning that links each piece of evidence to your claim.
- Add one sentence on what additional test would confirm your claim.
- Proofread for clarity, then submit your CER on the class site.
- Confirm the submission shows as turned in and note one thing you would investigate next.
CER: Full CER identifying the outbreak type and source, with at least three evidence points, a reasoning paragraph, and a proposed confirmatory test.
Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not. Use the checklist just below and upload by 11:29 PM for full credit. Absent with an excused absence? You get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
| Task | Who |
|---|---|
| State your Claim: the type and the likely source of the outbreak. | _______ |
| List your Evidence from the signs, symptoms, table, and relationship map. | _______ |
| Write the Reasoning that links each piece of evidence to your claim. | _______ |
| Add one sentence on what additional test would confirm your claim. | _______ |
| Proofread for clarity, then submit your CER on the class site. | _______ |
| Confirm the submission shows as turned in and note one thing you would investigate next. | _______ |
Working solo? Put your own name in "Who" for every row.
- You will be able to write a complete CER about an outbreak.
- You will be able to support a claim with organized evidence.
- You will be able to propose a to test your conclusion.
- 1Do thisWrite and submit a complete CER that names the likely pathogen and source for the outbreak case.
- 2Use this resource
- 3Submit thisCER: Full CER identifying the outbreak pathogen type and source, with at least three evidence points, a reasoning paragraph, and a proposed confirmatory test.
- 4Submit it here
- 1Open the drop folder.
- 2Sign in with your district Microsoft account, not a personal one.
- 3Upload the file, named Lastname_Firstname__Assignment Title.
- 4Your own upload panel says Uploaded with a green check: that is your receipt.
Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not. Genetics of Disease (Medical Interventions) › Outbreak investigation, symptom clusters, pathogen categories, evidence maps. Monday debate: isolation vs. autonomy. › CEROpen the drop folder
Learn it · deck, reading, 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.
Epidemiologists map cases by person, place, and time so that a shared exposure among the earliest patients becomes visible, because that shared exposure points to the outbreak's source.
A CER convinces a reader because its reasoning explains why each piece of evidence supports the claim, so drawing from multiple sources and linking them explicitly turns a week of clues into a defensible conclusion.
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: You have signs, symptoms, a table, and a relationship map. Can you now write one claim that names the pathogen type and the source, and defend it well enough that a skeptical reader agrees?
What you already know: Epidemiologists map cases by person, place, and time so that a shared exposure among the earliest patients becomes visible, because that shared exposure points to the outbreak's source.
New idea: A CER convinces a reader because its reasoning explains why each piece of evidence supports the claim, so drawing from multiple sources and linking them explicitly turns a week of clues into a defensible conclusion.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Outbreak CER submission. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in Outbreak CER submission.
- 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: You have signs, symptoms, a table, and a relationship map. Can you now write one claim that names the pathogen type and the source, and defend it well enough that a skeptical reader agrees?
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.
- • : A microorganism such as a bacterium, virus, fungus, or parasite that can cause disease in its host.
- • symptom: A sign of illness that a patient feels or notices, such as pain, fever, or fatigue, which helps point toward a diagnosis.
- • sign: An objective indication of disease that someone else can observe or measure, such as a fever, rash, or swelling, unlike a symptom the patient feels.
- • outbreak: A sudden rise in cases of a disease above the normal level in a place or group, often spreading quickly and needing rapid response.
- • epidemiology: The study of how diseases spread, who they affect, and what causes them across populations, used to find patterns and guide prevention.
- • reservoir: A living host or environment where a normally lives and multiplies, serving as the source from which infections spread.
- • vector: A that delivers genetic material into a cell, such as a or virus, or an organism like a mosquito that spreads a disease.
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.
A strong CER draws evidence from multiple sources: clinical signs, biology, and epidemiological data.
Limit: E1 supplies context or an observation; it does not by itself establish the explanation.
A CER convinces a reader because its reasoning explains why each piece of evidence supports the claim, so drawing from multiple sources and linking them explicitly turns a week of clues into a defensible conclusion.
Limit: E2 is a teaching statement or comparison and must be checked against the task evidence.
You will be able to write a complete CER about an outbreak.
Limit: E3 supports only the result or product criterion named here; it cannot justify a broader clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-GEND-2026-09-09 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: medical interventions team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from Outbreak CER submission supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on the lesson page.
- • Choose the strongest supported explanation.
- • Choose the next evidence to collect.
- • Hold the decision because the evidence is insufficient.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the claim-evidence-reasoning response.
Claim ceiling: The supplied lesson evidence can support an observation, pattern, classroom mechanism, or next-step decision about Outbreak CER submission. It cannot by itself prove causation, establish a real clinical diagnosis, or justify action outside this classroom task.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from Outbreak CER submission supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on the lesson page.
Context: A conclusion earns trust when the reasoning makes each piece of evidence explain why it supports the claim, so a strong CER pulls from multiple sources and shows the links, rather than just listing facts.
- • T1: State your Claim: the type and the likely source of the outbreak.
- • T2: List your Evidence from the signs, symptoms, table, and relationship map.
- • T3: Write the Reasoning that links each piece of evidence to your claim.
- • T4: Add one sentence on what additional test would confirm your claim.
- • T5: Proofread for clarity, then submit your CER on the class site.
- • T6: Confirm the submission shows as turned in and note one thing you would investigate next.
- • E1: A strong CER draws evidence from multiple sources: clinical signs, biology, and epidemiological data.
- • E2: A CER convinces a reader because its reasoning explains why each piece of evidence supports the claim, so drawing from multiple sources and linking them explicitly turns a week of clues into a defensible conclusion.
- • E3: You will be able to write a complete CER about an outbreak.
Measurements: No patient measurement is supplied unless it appears explicitly in E1-E3 or F1. Do not invent a value.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Outbreak CER submission. Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision. 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.
Students often think Students often think a CER is done once they have stated a claim and listed some evidence underneath it.. The trap: Listed evidence is not reasoning. Reasoning is the sentence that says WHY a given fact supports the claim, and a CER without it reads as a pile of facts, not an argument. Skipping the 'because' is the most common way a strong-looking conclusion still fails to convince.
This is a worked model for a DIFFERENT outbreak than the one you must argue today. Use it to see how a CER is built, not to copy an answer.
Claim: The summer illnesses were most likely caused by a parasitic pathogen spread through contaminated water at the community swimming pool during the week of July 12.
Evidence:
- Signs and symptoms: swimmers had watery diarrhea (symptom) and low-grade fever (sign) that lasted more than a week, a pattern that fits a lingering gut infection rather than a quick one.
- Pathogen table: the long incubation period of about a week and the poor response to standard antibiotics point to a parasite, not bacteria or a virus.
- Relationship map: the sick swimmers had all used the same pool during the same week, and none of the people who stayed out of the water got sick, marking the pool as the common source.
Reasoning: Each piece of evidence narrows the cause. The drawn-out diarrhea and mild fever rule in a gut infection, the long incubation and antibiotic resistance rule in a parasite, and the shared pool exposure links the cases to one place and time. Together they support a waterborne parasitic outbreak.
Confirmatory test: collect stool samples from patients and a water sample from the pool, then examine both under a microscope and run PCR to confirm the same parasite species is present in both.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A complete claim-evidence-reasoning argument on a parallel outbreak scenario, naming the likely pathogen type and source and proposing a confirmatory test, modeled so students can see the format and depth without seeing the answer to their own case.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
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 on the class site; confirm it shows as turned in.
- 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 Outbreak CER submission. 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.
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Outbreak investigation and case framing by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.1_The-Mystery-Infection; keywords:outbreak, . Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Outbreak investigation and case framing by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.1_The-Mystery-Infection; keywords:outbreak, case. Score 138. 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 Outbreak investigation and case framing by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/00_Unit-Overview; keywords:outbreak, . Score 134. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
How to get there: open Clever and sign in with your Microsoft (district) account. Both myPLTW and Schoology are in Clever. Do the activity in myPLTW. Turn the work in on this site or hand it to Mr. Mendoza, because that is the step that counts as submitted. Schoology only shows your report-card grade later.
Check yourself · commit, then reveal▸
Claim ceiling for this check: The supplied lesson evidence can support an observation, pattern, classroom mechanism, or next-step decision about Outbreak CER submission. It cannot by itself prove causation, establish a real clinical diagnosis, or justify action outside this classroom task.
A student writes: 'Claim: the outbreak was bacterial from the reunion buffet. Evidence: patients had high fevers, the pathogen table shows bacteria cause food poisoning, and the map centers on the buffet.' What is missing before this counts as a complete CER, and add one fix.
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.
Go further and get help▸
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.
Today is individual work you can do from home: complete the same target above, then submit your CER.
Open the drop folderTurn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
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 Epidemiology (self-study)- 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.
- SubmittedTurned in the right way, on the class site or handed to Mr. Mendoza in class, and confirmed. Not in Schoology: that is where the report-card grade appears later.