Scientific Investigation: Unusual Absences
Lesson 1: Unusual Absences
In this activity you will be working as a member of an investigation team from the
Community Health Department trying to discover whether there is a possible flu
epidemic developing in the community.
What to do:
1. You will be working on your laptops in teams of three. Log on as soon as possible.
2. Download a copy of the report sheet: “Investigative Report Form”. You will use this
form to record the progress of your team’s investigation.
3. Log on to the Community Health Department website:
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih6/inquiry/activities/activities_toc.ht
m
4. Click on “Activity 1 – Unusual Absences”
5. This displays the home page of the intranet site for the Community Health Department.
6. Click on the link for “You have (1) New Message” and read the e-mail message
from the director of the Health Department. Also read the attached letter from the
Principal of one of the local schools.
7. Write a testable question to help you investigate whether a community health problem
exists. Record your testable question on your Investigative Report Form.
8. Only then may you return to the director’s message and continue with your
investigation the by clicking on the link to the school district Web site.
9. Once you have viewed the attendance data, you will need to export the data to the
Health Department’s Web site, where the data can be displayed in graphs. To
export the data to the health department’s Web site, click on the “Export Data”
button and type “cohd.org” into the “Export Destination” box.
10. Click on “View Data” to see the same data tables that are on the school district’s Web site.
If you click on “Create Graphs,” you will be given a menu of 16 graphs from which to
choose. You can view up to four graphs at a time. Select graphs that will help you make
comparisons and answer your testable questions.
11. After you have chosen your graphs, click on “Display Graphs” to view them. Use the
graphs and data sheets to analyse the attendance data. Do you notice any patterns?
12. You should record your findings on your Investigative Report Form.
13. When filling out the Investigative Report Form, you should write down under “Evidence
Collected” anything that you feel may have a bearing on your investigation now or in the
future. A summary of your findings should be included in the “Analysis and Explanation
of Evidence” space.
14. The next step for your investigation should be written as a question and entered into the
space on the form labelled “Next Questions”.
Discuss these questions with your group and then with another group to compare your
ideas:
 What is the reason the higher number of absences among students in band class at
Truman and Jackson middle schools?
 If these absences are due to an illness, do band members from the two affected
schools share the same symptoms?
 Have band members from the two schools been in contact with each other?