During the height of the COVID pandemic, health care systems were keeping a close eye on their PPE, personal protective equipment and sought new ways to make the most out of what they had. At Washington University in St. Louis, students jumped in to see how they could help. Follow their innovative process in this video.

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Teacher Resources for the Video:

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

Discussion Questions:
• Discuss how the video is an example of the practice of “Asking Questions and Defining Problems.” What was the problem the researchers wanted to solve? What hypothesis was developed? What steps in the inquiry process do the students see come to life?

Activity Ideas:
• Focused on the same practice of “Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions,” have students create the PPE equipment using the materials and following the process used by the students. What is their evaluation of the effectiveness of the solution? Do they have additional innovations to improve its effectiveness?

Resources for Additional Research:
• Learn more about the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices at the NSTA website.

Unique ID for the Video: IinAction-32
• 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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