How We Learn: Educating the Community about COVID-19

WHERE: UP Academy Leonard, Lawrence, MA

WHO: Dan Adler (MA '17) and his sixth grade science students

WHAT: Public service announcements (PSAs) to keep their community informed about COVID-19

WHY: The inspiration came from a project on something seemingly unrelated: plate tectonics. "COVID and plate tectonics are largely invisible phenomena, but ones we can understand and predict by looking at visible evidence," says Dan. Students created PSAs talking about how to stay safe from COVID-19, including the vaccine, then posted them on Facebook and TikTok.

Dan posted his own sample PSA on TikTok:

@mistersci

What might it sound like if Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion rapped about getting vaccinated? Check out the new remix, "Get That Vaccine."

original sound - Dan Adler

Two students posted their PSAs on TikTok to promote mask-wearing, citing international studies about COVID transmission on airplanes and in restaurants. 

@official_kaliey554

#wearyourmasks

original sound - kk (aka kailey)

@justsomerandomperson57

 

sonido original - Just a random person

Zellie posted her PSA on Facebook. "COVID is real," she wrote. "Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not real." For evidence, Zellie cites contact tracing in New York that showed 70% of new COVID cases originating from small gatherings and within households, as well as research by a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Here's Jeremiah's PSA, where he supported his statement about COVID spreading in indoor environments with reporting from the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer. Part of the assignment was drawing a line between plate tectonics and coronavirus, both invisible phenomena: "In science class we have been learning that just because we can't see something doesn't mean the ideas are fake."