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Asthma Survey
Lesson Goals:
Students will better understand the prevalence of asthma in the
community (class, school, home, neighborhood, etc.) as they learn
how to collect, summarize, and display survey data in meaningful
ways.
Curriculum Connections:
Language Arts
- Organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic
ways (e.g., time lines, outlines, questionnaires, graphic representations)
- Gathers data for research topics from interviews (e.g., prepares
and asks relevant questions, makes notes of responses, compiles
responses)
- Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
Health
- Knows environmental and external factors that affect individual
and community health
Science
- Understands the nature of scientific inquiry
- Uses appropriate tools (including computer hardware and software)
and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret scientific
data
Math
- Organizes and displays data using tables, graphs, etc.
- Understands that the same set of data can be represented using
a variety of tables, graphs, and symbols and that different
modes of representation often convey different messages (e.g.,
variation in scale can alter a visual message)
- Understands basic concepts about how samples are chosen (e.g.,
random samples, bias in sampling procedures, limited samples,
sampling error)
Video Tie-In:
What
Causes Asthma? documentary video clip
Glossary Terms:
allergy, asthma, asthma triggers, dust mites, environmental
tobacco smoke, mold, pollen, respiration
Time Required:
Two 40-minute class periods, plus time in the field to conduct
survey
Activity Overview:
According to the American Lung Association, an estimated 26 million
Americans have asthma, 8.6 million of whom are under the age of
18. Students will design and conduct a survey of classmates, family,
neighbors, and others to find out how common asthma is in their
community. The survey can track how many people have the illness,
how many people know someone with asthma, how many people know
what it is, etc. Students will compile and present their survey
results using appropriate graphs and charts to illustrate their
findings.
Activity Directions:
- Ask students if they have or know of anyone who has asthma.
Invite students to talk about their experiences with asthma.
Do they think asthma is a common ailment?
- Reproduce, distribute, and then review the Asthma
Fact Sheet with your students. Tell students that together
you are going to create and conduct a survey about asthma in
your community.
- Spend some time reviewing survey formats (questionnaires,
phone interviews, face-to-face interviews), how to create questions
for each type of survey, and data collection techniques with
your class. Refer to the following sites for tips to share with
your students:
- Discuss what you hope to learn from your asthma survey. Some
focus questions include: Do you want to know how many people
in the community suffer from asthma? How many people know what
asthma is? What triggers asthma attacks in different people?
With your class, construct the set of questions to include in
your survey that will help them answer their focus questions.
Students can use the space on their handout to draft and submit
sample questions for the final survey.
- As a group, decide what population to survey (school, family,
neighbors, community members, etc.) and how large your survey
sample should be. Discuss concepts such as random samples, bias
in sampling procedures, limited samples, and sampling errors
with students. Refer to the following site for information about
surveys and sampling.
- Once students have collected their survey data, they should
compile and present their findings using appropriate graphs
and charts.
Web Links:
Overview | Using the Video
Lesson Plans | Resources | Purchase the Video
BREAKING THE MOLD | Water
+ ? = Trouble
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