KS4: Harmful Microbes

In this lesson, close examination of various illnesses illustrates to students how and where harmful microbes cause disease. Students test their knowledge of disease causing microbes by researching various illnesses and how they can impact the community.

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Learning objectives

All students will:

Understand that sometimes microbes can make us ill and cause infection
Understand how harmful microbes (pathogens) can pass from person to person
Understand that different infections cause different symptoms
Understand how global travel has influenced the spread of disease

Most students will:

Understand how infectious diseases impact the local community

Background Information

Some microbes can be harmful to humans and can cause disease: the Influenza virus causes the flu, Campylobacter bacteria can cause food poisoning and the dermatophyte fungi, such as Trichophyton, can cause diseases such as athlete’s foot and ringworm. Microbes like these are known as pathogens. Each pathogenic microbe can make us ill in different ways.

Someone who is ill because of a harmful disease-causing microbe is said to be infected. Many harmful microbes can pass from one person to another by a number of different routes – air, touch, water, food, aerosols (such as sneezes and water vapour), animals, etc. Diseases caused by such microbes are said to be infectious diseases.

In this lesson plan, students discover the different types of infectious diseases caused by harmful microbes and their characteristics. The explore how infectious diseases can spread and consider how they would manage an outbreak.