PlayFlu engages students in modeling flu outbreak through
tag-style games that illustrates how fast viruses spread
PlayFlu is a technology driven travel program for teaching life sciences. The program was developed with funds from the National Science Foundation as a free enrichment program that travels to schools. PlayFlu uses wearable technology to drive and manage a tag-style game to physically engage students in modeling a flu outbreak. During the game, students are assigned a health status on their wearable devices: Healthy, Sick,or Vaccinated. The sick players (chasers) try to infect (tag) healthy players while the vaccinated players try to protect the healthy.
The games are integrated into a discussion-based lesson plan to teach about infectious diseases, viruses vs. bacteria, herd immunity, and how fast viruses spread. The activity is driven by the CDC’s FluIQ questions and by real-time data generated from student engagement with the model.
Workshops are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and tailored to the knowledge level of the audience being taught (K-8) at increasing levels of complexity.
PlayFlu follows the NGSS 3D approach by engaging students in the scientific practice of Modeling and through the use of the Cause and Effect crosscutting concept. Lesson plans are developed at increasing levels of complexity; adjusted for student grade level. For example, at the middle-school level, the program delves more in-depth into the core idea of Structure and Function, focusing on infectious disease and related concepts (e.g., immune system, living things, virus vs. bacteria).
PlayFlu’s interdisciplinary approach also focuses on the social significance of vaccines in providing protection to other community members through herd immunity, the implications of population density, and healthy living habits.
PlayFlu Director
Full-Stack Developer
Researcher
Lead Instructor
Content Developer & Instructor
Content Developer
Health-Education Advisor
Epidemiology-Content Advisor
Educational-Technology Advisor
Chemistry-Curriculum Advisor