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Breaking the Mold

Using the Video in Your Classroom

While Watching the Drama…

Tune in to Vocabulary

Write the following vocabulary words on the board and ask students to listen for them while watching the video. Have them raise their hands the first time they hear each word and then listen for definitions. You might wish to pause and replay segments of the tape that do a particularly good job of describing a word so that students can jot down the definitions. Refer to the glossary for brief definitions of each term.

  • Allergens
  • Asthma
  • Dust mites
  • Humidity
  • Microscopic particles
  • Mold
  • Pesticides
  • Pollution
  • Stachybotrys Mold

This House is Old (and Sick!)

Video Pause Point 16:45 (right after the "This House is Old" segment with Bob Cacciatore.)

Ask students why they think Kee is so interested in what the host of the show is saying. Have they ever heard of a house being sick? Has Kee uncovered a clue to solving the mystery?

Dara = Wet Bathroom

Video Pause Point 22:53 (right before documentary #2 begins).

Kee is deep in her research and writes DARA=WET BATHROOM in her notebook. She even studies blueprints of the reality house and circles the bathroom on the drawing. What do you think Kee means by these notes? Is this another clue to the mystery? Write your students' theories on the board and have them listen for more clues as the drama unfolds.

Who Ya Gonna Call? Dust Busters!

Video Pause Point 25:24 (After Kee abruptly leaves the dinner table to inform the TV show of her mold theories and Dara snidely asks, "Who is she going to go call, the EPA?")

Have your students research answers to the following questions:

  1. What is the EPA?
  2. What role does the organization play in protecting the air we breathe?
  3. Name a few of the science and health career opportunities at the EPA.

Refer students to the following EPA Web pages to help answer these questions.
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/aboutepa.htm

Then have students role-play a career as an Air Quality Control Specialist in the Dust Busters to the Rescue Lesson Plan.



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BREAKING THE MOLD | INSIDE STORIES | Water + ? = Trouble