Type:

Classroom activity

Age level:

14 years +

Topic area:

Malaria, Plasmodium parasites, vector borne disease, vaccination, drug development, budgeting, economics

Description:

In this activity students are given a hypothetical pot of money from which they can allocate funds to one or more malaria intervention projects. In groups they must discuss the pros and cons of the projects and decide which project(s) should receive funding. They should present back to the class on which projects they have chosen to fund and why.

Students can use the Malaria Challenge resource to find out more about the disease and the methods used to monitor, control and prevent malaria transmission to support their arguments for and against the different projects.

Malaria Challenge: Funding Decisions is suitable for GCSE and A-level students.

Key Words

Pathogens, malaria, eradication, elimination, control strategies, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, vector borne disease, Anopheles mosquito.

Running the actiity:

To run this activity, you will need:

1. Introductory presentation to malaria and the activity.
2. Introductory video to malaria (alternative to introductory presentation to malaria).
3. Malaria Challenge resource.
4. Funding cards (one set per group).
5. Group instructions.
6. Group worksheet (one per group).
7. Teachers notes.
8. Group discussion guidelines.
9. Computer with internet access (only needed if using Malaria Challenge online).

Detailed instructions on how to run the activity and discussion points are provided in the Teachers Notes in the Support Materials section.

Credits

Content: Francesca Gale, Steve Scott and Julian Rayner

Graphics: Preeti Deshpande

Support Links:

Related items:

Curriculum links:

This activity supports the following modules on the UK curriculum. Click on the arrows below for further detail of the module.

Web links:

Additional sources of information on the web for teachers and students to increase their knowledge base of malaria and other infectious diseases.