In the Peruvian rainforest, teams from the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Field Projects International collect biological samples from wildlife populations of bats and primates. Analyzing this data for disease-causing viruses with portable sequencing technology could help understand the transfer of infectious diseases from animals to humans.

Meet the innovators developing several science and engineering practices that could give early warning of the next pandemic.

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Teacher Resources for the Video:

NGSS Disciplines Addressed in Standards Referenced Below:
• Life Sciences
• Physical Sciences
• Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

Discussion Questions:
• Lead a discussion focused on the practice of “Asking Questions and Defining Problems.” What problem do students see the scientists addressing? What questions are being asked? What questions would they ask in addition?

Activity Ideas:
• Use the video as an activity for students to work through the scientific inquiry process. This video would be in the first step of observation. They should then continue the steps, outlining what each step and its activity is. They should then discuss their ideas with the class to learn from one another.
• Have students create a timeline of the technological processes used in this video. When were portable sequencers and cloud storage and sharing created, along with other innovations mentioned in the video?

Resources for Additional Research:
• Learn more about Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis at https://infectiousdiseases.wustl.edu/.
• Learn more about the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices at the NSTA website.

Unique ID for the Video: IinAction-37
• Use the unique ID as a shortcut for students to find this specific video. Click on Search and choose “By Video ID.” Type in the Video ID as it appears above.

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