Outbreak investigation, symptom clusters, pathogen categories, evidence maps. Monday debate: isolation vs. autonomy.
Your PLTW coursework: Medical Interventions ▸ Unit 1: How to Fight Infection ▸ Lesson 1.1 The Mystery Infection ▸ "Activity 1.1.2 Investigating an Outbreak"
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. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Week overview - Framing an Outbreak Investigation
Turn a messy set of patient symptoms into an organized outbreak investigation an epidemiologist could act on.
- 1List the cases. From the patient data your teacher provides, list each patient with their symptoms and onset date.
- 2Separate signs from symptoms. Sort each observation into a SIGN (measurable, e.g., fever 39°C) or a SYMPTOM (reported, e.g., 'feels tired').
- 3Cluster. Group patients who share symptom patterns. Note anything they have in common (place, food, contact).
- 4Map relationships. Draw who-contacted-whom and mark likely a reservoir or vector if one appears.
- 5Hypothesize. Write a CER: claim (what kind of ), evidence (your clusters), reasoning (why the pattern fits).
- • Distinguish signs from symptoms in real patient data.
- • Build a relationship/line-list map from raw cases.
- • State a defensible first diagnosis hypothesis with evidence.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
Written CER on mandatory : claim, evidence, reasoning, and a rebuttal addressing one opposing point.
Two-column signs-and-symptoms chart from three patient cases, plus a one-sentence disease category prediction.
Four-row comparison table (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) with size, cell status, example disease, treatment, and distinguishing feature columns.
Node-and-link outbreak relationship map with labeled connections, circled source, and a one-sentence testable hypothesis.
Full CER identifying the outbreak type and source, with at least three evidence points, a reasoning paragraph, and a proposed confirmatory test.
Quick intro to the week
- Monday is a Philosophy-for-Kids bioethics debate: vs. autonomy: how much can limit one person's freedom to protect many?
- Bring two prepared questions and one CER contribution.
- By Friday you owe an outbreak relationship map + a CER diagnosis hypothesis.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance the PLTW Unit 1 infection case: build the outbreak map and record your initial diagnosis hypothesis as evidence.
- • The difference between a sign and a symptom.
- • How epidemiologists use line lists and relationship maps.
- • categories (bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite).
- • Organize raw case data into a usable map.
- • Write a CER that proposes a category from evidence.
📋 PLTW evidence to log: outbreak relationship map and CER diagnosis hypothesis for the Unit 1 infection case.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Wed, Sep 2 | Bioethics debate: isolation vs autonomy | Written CER on mandatory isolation: claim, evidence, reasoning, and a rebuttal addressing one opposing point. |
| Thursday | Thu, Sep 3 | Signs vs symptoms | Two-column signs-and-symptoms chart from three patient cases, plus a one-sentence disease category prediction. |
| Friday | Fri, Sep 4 | Pathogen categories | Four-row pathogen comparison table (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) with size, cell status, example disease, treatment, and distinguishing feature columns. |
| Tuesday | Tue, Sep 8 | Outbreak relationship map | Node-and-link outbreak relationship map with labeled connections, circled source, and a one-sentence testable hypothesis. |
| Wednesday | Wed, Sep 9 | Outbreak CER submission | Full CER identifying the outbreak pathogen type and source, with at least three evidence points, a reasoning paragraph, and a proposed confirmatory test. |
- M: debate prep + outbreak frame
- T: patient evidence log
- W: pathogen category notes
- Th: relationship map
- F: CER diagnosis hypothesis
Due by week's end: Outbreak relationship map and CER diagnosis hypothesis.
5 panels from the illustrated semester.
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.
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 Clever, then myPLTWHow 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.
You can't do those from home: do this instead: CDC-style from teacher data.
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 Epidemiology (self-study)Vocabulary
Virtual resources
Teacher-posted resources
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.