CNN Student News Learning Activity: Investigating MRSA

(CNN Student News) -- Students will research MRSA's effects on the human body, how the bacteria spreads and how it can be prevented and treated.

Procedure

Send student groups on a multimedia scavenger hunt to learn about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Pose the following questions to guide students' research:

1. What is MRSA?
2. How does it affect the human body?
3. What are some of the symptoms that are associated with MRSA?
4. What are some risk factors for contracting MRSA?
5. Can MRSA be treated or cured? If so, how?
6. How does MRSA spread from person to person?
7. What methods are used to prevent its spread?

Direct groups to organize their findings into the following categories:

1. Characteristics
2. Symptoms
3. Treatment and cure, if applicable
4. Prevention
5. Additional facts of interest

Finally, have groups create brochures to educate their peers about MRSA. Students can distribute the brochures to other classes and to the school nurse.

Correlated Standards

Science: Grades 9-12

Content Standard C: Life Science

As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of:

• The cell

• Interdependence of organisms

Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of:

• Personal and community health

• Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges

The National Science Education Standards (http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/pdf/index.html) are published by the National Academies Press (http://www.nationalacademies.org/).

Technology

Standard 3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.

b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

d. process data and report results.

The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students (http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS/) are published by the International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org/).

Keywords

MRSA, superbug, bacteria, disease, infection E-mail to a friend