Marianne Cutler and Liz Lawrence describe
in more detail the opportunities for ‘working
scientifically’ provided by this exciting new ASE
resource, which was introduced in the previous
issue, along with some of the feedback from
teachers who have trialled the resources
[As children enter their final
years in primary education,
they are expected] to develop a
deeper understanding of a wide
range of scientific ideas. … they
should encounter more abstract
ideas and begin to recognise how
these ideas help them to understand
and predict how the world operates
… and begin to recognise that
scientific ideas change and develop
over time … finding things out
using a wide range of secondary
sources of information … and draw
conclusions based on their data
and observations, use evidence
to justify their ideas, and use
their scientific knowledge and
understanding to explain their
findings.
Extracts from the National Curriculum
in England science programmes of study
(updated 2015)
Box 1 The Speckled Monster (outbreak
simulation activity)
This resource consists of three activities designed as an introduction to
smallpox, and the development of vaccinations resulting from Edward Jenner’s
ideas, investigations and collection of evidence. In more detail the activities
are:
A An introduction to Edward Jenner’s work through the 15 minute JAMES film.
Children take part in a smallpox outbreak simulation at the time of Jenner to
learn about the spread of the disease and immunity. (2–3 hours)
B Children use the knowledge and understanding gained from activity A to
draw and interpret a graph, based on data from a real smallpox outbreak in
Warrington during 1773. (1 hour)
C Children consider the evidence that Jenner collected and published in 1798,
including his experiments with cowpox, which influenced his ideas around
smallpox vaccination. (1 hour)
By the end of these activities children should be able to:
describe simply how individuals can acquire immunity from smallpox,
through vaccination and exposure to cowpox or smallpox;
give examples of how Jenner investigated his ideas about cowpox and
smallpox, using Jenner’s publication as a secondary source of (scientific)
information; 
draw and interpret a graph that shows the typical progress of an infectious
disease;
T
he Why you’ll never catch
smallpox resources offer a
wide range of opportunities
for children to work and think
scientifically, as can be seen in
Boxes 1, 2 and 3 where a number
of the resources are outlined,
along with feedback from some
of the teachers who trialled
them.
identify from a graph when numbers are increasing, decreasing or staying
the same.
Amanda Poole, Shrubland Street Primary School, trialled this resource and said:
Using role play in science to generate a set of real-life data was an activity
I hadn’t tried before and I found it a very creative way to bring ‘working
scientifically’ skills into what wouldn’t usually be practical parts of the
curriculum. The children loved using drama to generate a table of data and
many commented that they would like to do that sort of activity again in
science. Some of the children really appreciated the opportunity to work with
extracts of Edward Jenner’s 1798 diaries and to try to piece together how the
different individuals’ case studies contributed to Jenner’s ideas which led to
his big idea – the development of the smallpox vaccination.
Key words:
24
Primary Science 142 March/April 2016
Working scientifically
Cross-curricular links
why you’ll never catch smallpox
Alison Crockford, Woodford Halse C.E.
Primary Academy, said:
One of the PowerPoint presentation graphs, using data from a real measles outbreak,
which children interpret using their newly acquired knowledge and understanding of
outbreaks
Box 2 Measles Alert! (outbreak simulation activity)
In this dramatic cross-curricular activity,
children use a combination of science,
maths and English skills to try to control
a local measles epidemic. This activity is
based upon real data and government
responses during the measles outbreak
in Swansea in 2012–2013.
The activity is split into four episodes,
set across the 36 weeks of the
simulated outbreak. Each episode is
designed to be completed in one lesson.
Many teachers run the whole activity
over two mornings. Maths and English
are an essential part of this activity,
so teachers might consider allocating
maths and English time to it.
Each episode is led by a multimedia
PowerPoint presentation, controlled
by the teacher, which provides the
narrative of the outbreak and the
weekly number of new cases. Children
respond to data as data analysts,
science advisers and healthcare workers
of the Outbreak Control Team. They
use their understanding of vaccination
and pattern-finding in data from their
work in ‘The Speckled Monster’, along
with other science, maths and English
skills, to bring the measles outbreak
under control. It is a race against
time: the outbreak soon turns into an
epidemic, and some people even start
dying. Children monitor the number
of new cases each week, determine
where the outbreak started and which
age groups are being affected, and
then decide what measures to take to
stop it. Sometimes groups need to work
together and share information or come
together as a whole class for discussion.
The activity brings the data to life and
shows that every graph tells a story.
Children have to work and think
scientifically by finding scientific
explanations and solutions to the
outbreak, but they also need to
communicate clearly and persuasively
with the general public through press
conferences, leaflets and report writing.
They discover that the local epidemic
has resulted from a low uptake of the
MMR vaccine and that the best way
to stop it is to convince parents to
vaccinate susceptible age groups.
By the end of this activity children
should be able to:
appreciate that different types of data
are presented differently, e.g. in tables,
bar charts and pie charts;
use tables, bar charts and pie charts
to present and interpret data;
identify the role of vaccination in
protecting individuals and populations
from disease;
explain the reason for the measles
outbreak in the simulation;
use their knowledge of vaccination to
explain real-life outbreaks and predict
how vaccination might prevent future
outbreaks.
A highlight was the opportunity for
children to take on different roles as
data monitors and analysts, health care
workers or science advisers, working
together as Outbreak Control Teams
to bring a measles outbreak, based on
real data, under control. Working to
their strengths and developing some
new skills, the children very quickly
understood their own roles and
contributions to decisions and actions
by the team. It was nice to see them
use their knowledge, gained from the
earlier smallpox simulation about how
infectious diseases spread, to help
inform their decisions and actions for
the measles outbreak simulation. We
all really enjoyed our press conference,
where members of the Outbreak
Control Teams were questioned by
other children and visitors in the
role of journalists on how they were
bringing the measles outbreak under
control. The quality of these Q and A
discussions was good, with journalist
children asking sometimes difficult
questions about the evidence backing
decisions to control the outbreak, and
the Outbreak Control Team children
having to justify their decisions based
on the evidence they had collected.
Lucy Hartwright, St Margaret’s C.E.
Junior School, also felt very positive
about this activity:
It was lovely to see the children
taking on their different roles with
such enthusiasm for the simulation of
the spread of smallpox at the time of
Edward Jenner and for the modern-day
simulation of a measles epidemic. The
role-plays enabled them to generate
and analyse their own data, making
predictions on the outcomes of an
epidemic over time – with or without
the intervention of administering
vaccinations – and working out
how they could present these on a
graph. Discussing the shapes of these
graphs in small groups and as a class
was helpful in checking children’s
understanding and in developing their
use of scientific language to explain
their graphs.
Primary Science 142 March/April 2016
25
why you’ll never catch smallpox
Box 3 Dr Edwina Jenner, immunologist (ethics
activity on modern-day clinical trials)
Children learn about the modern process of testing a
new vaccine and compare it to Jenner’s experiments.
Through group and whole-class discussion, they
consider the ethics of testing new vaccines on
people today, and in Jenner’s time.
By the end of this activity children should be able
to:
Appreciate that all medicines and vaccines must
undergo clinical trials;
Explain simply why vaccines are tested on thousands of people over
many years.
Lucy Hartwright said:
It was rewarding to see how the children used their knowledge and
understanding of vaccination from Edward Jenner’s collection of
evidence and his own experiments to compare his approach with the
way that vaccinations are developed and tested today. In the ‘Dr Edwina
Jenner’ ethical discussions around this, the children showed some
empathy for the circumstances and behaviour in Jenner’s time and some
understanding about why vaccinations are developed and trialled as
they are today’.
FREE innovative
science and
D&T resources Posters
for Primary schools
from Practical Action
s
image
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n
a
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erial t
deos
sters including a
FREE colourful po
ntions, the 6R’s,
100 years of inve
and posters to
renewable energy
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support our STEM
Why you’ll never catch smallpox
resources are freely available on ASE’s
schoolscience website: www.schoolscience.org.uk
These resources were developed
by ASE in partnership with media
production company James Films, with
support from the Wellcome Trust.
Marianne Cutler, Helen Harden
and Liz Lawrence (ASE) with Terhi
Kylliäinen and Felix Levinson (James
Films). With thanks to Alison
Crockford, Amanda Poole and Lucy
Hartwright, and their schools for
taking part in the trials.
STEM cha
llenge
s
Enquiry b
ased, han
ds-on
challenges
including
our
NEW Plast
ics Challe
nge (with
competitio
n) and Be
at the Floo
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materials on climate change;
new CREST Star resources and
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documents showing where our
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science curricula.
practicalaction.org/schools
26
Primary Science 142 March/April 2016