This 75-minute lesson is the first in the CDC’s NERD (Novel Emerging Respiratory Disease) Academy series for grades 6- 12. It introduces students to public health principles and the work of epidemiologists. Through a fictional outbreak scenario, students examine the differences between endemic, outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic disease levels. Activities include video viewing, group-based data analysis, newsfeed timeline creation, classification exercises, and a simulation where students must decide when to declare a pandemic. The lesson emphasizes data literacy, public health response, and the consequences of disease spread across communities.
