Learning Module

Ticks and Lyme Disease: Self Guided Online Module

Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne illness in the U.S., is on the rise in Maine. Scientists believe that temperature and humidity play an important role in the survival of ticks and the spread of Lyme disease. In this set of self-directed, online lessons, students will use a variety of data representations to make evidence-supported claims about and what those changes might mean for the survival of ticks and the spread of Lyme disease in the future.

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Learning Outcomes

  • Climate and Changing Ecosystems
    • Changes in Maine’s ecosystems are local instances of global patterns of change.
    • Changes in ecosystems have impacts on the species within those ecosystems—some populations thrive, some move, some decline.
  • Data and Scientific Inquiry (This is the work that scientists do!)
    • Data help us understand a problem or phenomenon and can be used as evidence to support scientific claims.
    • We use data in a combination of graphs and maps to represent ecosystem change in both time and space.
    • Data can be represented and organized in different ways in order to answer different questions or reveal new information.
    • Using data to understand a phenomenon involves being able to read and make sense of data representations (tables, graphs, maps, etc.) and models.

Time Estimate
4 to 10 class periods

Audience
5-8

Standards Alignment

This module was developed to follow on to your LabVenture experience. The lessons are designed to be followed by students working individually on a desktop, laptop, or Chromebook computer, with a reasonably fast internet connection. (Although it is possible to use the various tools on tablets, there are interface elements that are specifically designed for use with a mouse, and as such, certain tasks may not work as described on a tablet, smart phone, or other portable device.) We will be using a variety of tools in these lessons.

Lesson 1: Lyme Disease in Maine

Students use multiple data representations to ask and answer questions about what's happening with the spread of Lyme disease, and share their personal connections to the disease and interaction with ticks.
Teacher Guide | Online Student Lesson | Student Sheet (Google Doc or Print)

Lesson 2: Lyme Disease by County

Students investigate how the rate of Lyme disease is changing in their county, and other counties in Maine, over time.
Teacher Guide | Online Student Lesson | Student Sheet (Google Doc or Print)

Lesson 3: Temperature

Students learn about the ideal temperature range for ticks and use data to explore how temperature is changing across Maine. Students will compare temperature data, identify trends, and forecast future temperature conditions for two counties to determine if these counties provide suitable conditions for ticks.
Teacher Guide | Online Student Lesson | Student Sheet (Google Doc or Print)

Lesson 4: Rainfall

Students explore how precipitation (rainfall) is changing over time in Maine and what impacts those changes might have on the spread of Lyme disease.
Teacher Guide | Online Student Lesson | Student Sheet (Google Doc or Print)

Lesson 5: Write a Public Service Announcement

Students consolidate the evidence they have gathered about the transmission of Lyme disease, its increasing prevalence in Maine, and the climate factors driving that trend to write a community-oriented public service announcement in a creative format.
Teacher Guide | PSA Graphic Organizer | Images and Data Visualizations | Sample PSA Grading Rubric