Abstract

Citation

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Greer, M. (2023). 2012-Greer-Palin-Students in Differential Equations and Epidemiology Model a Campus Outbreak of pH1N1. SIMIODE, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/JY6J-SK49

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Article Context

Description

Greer, Meredith L.  and Karen A. Palin. 2012. Students in Differential Equations and Epidemiology Model a Campus Outbreak of pH1N1. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. December: 183-185.

See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3577334/ . Accessed 28 March 2023.

INTRODUCTION

We describe a semester-long collaboration between a mathematics class and a biology class. Students worked together to understand and model the trajectory of the pandemic H1N1, pH1N1, outbreak across campus in fall 2009 (4). Each course had about 30 students and was an upper level elective for majors. Some mathematics students had taken no college-level biology, and some biology students had taken no college-level mathematics. All students had taken at least three quantitative courses, so they had some experience working with data. Our goals were to allow students to work with and model a real data set that affected them personally (5, 6, 7), to explore how the outbreak spread within our small campus, and for students to share their areas of expertise. This project created opportunities for synthesis and evaluation (1).