Students began class by introducing themselves to each other and playing an Icebreaker game. Instructor Tiffany then shows them how a bell curve can represent an epidemic. They start out by making basic S.I.R. models using Vensim. Upon completions of the model, they began introducing several different outside factors and variables, one of these being vaccination. This reduced the amount of people getting sick. They then made the model more realistic by allowing the recovered people become infected once again. Next they introduced a death variable as well as a birth variable depending on the amount of susceptible people still alive and a constant rate. After the model resembled a realistic population, the students played around with different options such as population control and quarantine containment. At the end of the class, the students realized how complicated one could make a model. What started as a simple S.I.R. model became a very complex and detailed model.
After break the students played a game with animals taped to their backs. The had to guess what their animal was only by obtaining information from fellow classmates by asking yes or no questions to each other. They then did a Guinea Worm disease case study modeling the life cycle of Dracunculus Medinensis. They then viewed a very complex Stella model ÃÂÃÂÃÂâstudying disease in cows. Following this they visited a website to view and explore a diabetes case study and model a pregnant woman's diet. The students concluded class by reflecting on today's experience in their daily Moodle Journal.