Plagues: Past, Present, and Future
Dr. Shelley Payne is a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.
From smallpox in ancient times to AIDS in the 21st century, disease has always acted as a limiting factor in human history. This seminar examined how disease continues to challenge our world physically, economically, and politically. In the following resources, seminar materials have been focused and refined into practical classroom applications that busy teachers can easily fold into their existing course curricula.
Toolkit offerings include:
Graphing Mortality - The 1918 Influenza - A TEKS aligned lesson plan for creating a bar graph that compares the staggeringly high number of deaths caused by the 1918 influenza epidemic to American deaths caused by 20th century wars. Also includes an interactive graph for teacher use. Designed for grade 10-12 courses in world history, U.S. history, and biology.
- Flu Lesson Plan (PDF)
- Number of Deaths in 20th century (PDF)
- Graph of Deaths and Answer Key (PDF)
- Graph of Deaths Flash Demonstration (link opens in new window)
Contemporary Disease Research Project - A TEKS aligned activity that provides students with specific disease research questions and a world map handout for locating areas where diseases are prevalent today. Designed for grade 9-12 courses in world geography, biology, advanced health, and English language arts.
- Teacher Directions (PDF)
- Diseases to Research (PDF)
- Student Research Questions (PDF)
- Research Questions Example (PDF)
- World Map (PDF)
Annotated Bibliography - Print and Internet resources dealing with plagues, diseases, epidemics, pandemics, and public policy.
Send feedback, questions, or comments about this resource to education@humanitiesinstitute.utexas.edu. PDF documents on this page require Adobe Reader, which is available for free for both PCs and Macs. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader.
Photo Credit: Letter carrier in New York City wearing mask
for protection against influenza, October 16, 1918.
National Archives and Records Administration
Project funded by UTOPIA