A thin-film Giemsa stained micrograph of ring-forms, and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum (cause of malaria) in human blood. (Shared through Wikimedia Commons)
Mathematics helps scientists fight disease –that’s the subject of a new NIMBioS education module recently posted on our website. In the module, students use manipulatives (beans in a cup) to simulate a disease outbreak and to help develop an understanding of how mathematical disease models are created. In a second activity, students use real world health data and a computer data visualization tool to discover trends about malaria. This activity was developed with NIMBioS collaborator Hands On, and tested with high school students and teachers visiting NIMBioS for the 2012 Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.
For more education modules that bring together math and biology, see the NIMBioS education module page.