Using Multiple Models to Learn About COVID-19

Furthermore, multiple scientific disciplines, such as immunology, genetics, epidemiology, and microbiology, contribute to our understanding of the pandemic. [...]COVID-19 is a complex socioscientific issue (SSI), meaning that science concepts related to the virus have real-world implications for problems in society (Zeidler 2014). SSI-based teaching and learning creates opportunities for students to grapple with real-world problems relevant to their own lives and that require consideration and evaluation of multiple, sometimes competing, factors associated with the issue. The modeling activities were embedded in a broader unit designed for high school biology classes; descriptions of the full unit and the individual modeling activities can be accessed online at https:// epiclearning.web.unc.edu/covid (Sadler et al. 2021). For this aspect of the work, we chose a Netlogo computer simulation (www.jacobkelter.com/infection-model) that allowed students to identify patterns and make sense of underlying cause-and-effect relationships associated with social distancing-two of the NGSS crosscutting concepts.