COVID-19 Education

Watch this video for a quick overview of the contents and essential questions for Session 1 on the basics of COVID-19.

In this lecture, public health experts Dr. Yanis Ben Amor and Dr. Ozge Karadag Caman from Center for Sustainable Development of Earth Institute, Columbia University, explain COVID-19 and what the novel coronavirus is. They discuss the symptoms, the outbreak, and the trend it has taken across the world.

They also discuss how you need to take care of yourself once you are hit with the virus, and what to do to curb its spread.

After listening to the lecture, you will be able to state what to do during a pandemic, identify elements of pandemic preparedness, how to curb disease spread and understand healthcare system in times of a pandemic.

From the devastating COVID-19 impact across the globe, are there some things we can learn? Read the opinion piece of Georg Kell in Forbes on some lessons we could take away from the pandemic.

Watch this video for a quick overview of the contents and essential questions for Session 2 on taking care of your well-being during COVID-19 and beyond.

Practice (and healthy habits) makes perfect! Are there some simple habits we can adopt and start practicing in our homes? This will be even more crucial as COVID-19 leaves us with extended periods of time working and schooling from home.

Taking care of, coping with, and managing stress and anxiety are fundamental to our overall well-being. Watch the video and visit the resources here to learn and practice stress relieving activities you can adopt and share with your families and friends, especially during challenging times. Let's start with taking a deep breath and taking a look.

Pick and choose an activity of your choice from the video, the external resources, or the writing activity described below!  Whichever activity you choose, feel free to share your final product (photo, video or link to a webpage that posted your work) to ecoambassadors1@gmail.com

More Activities...

• Write your own blog post related to COVID-19.

  Research a bit on 'what is next' ? Find articles by experts (cite sources) on what is thought to be the future we need to prepare for (socially, economically, politically, etc.) in COVID-19 aftermath. After you write your blog, share your blog with us at ecoambassadors1@gmail.com. You may get a chance to be featured on our Eco Ambassador Program blog!

In this session, explore how you can use storytelling to help guide difficult conversations about COVID-19 and our role and preventing its spread.

Watch this video for a quick overview of the contents and essential questions for Session 3 on the links between infectious disease and our environment.

Desired Results / Established Goals:

What relevant goals (content standards, course or program objectives, learning outcomes) will this design address?

• To understand the cause, symptoms and the relevant action that needs to be taken to control the spread of COVID19.

• To understand the processes countries followed to stop the pandemic at policy levels.

• To understand the short term and long term environmental effects of COVID19 including biodiversity loss

• To learn quick strategies to support mental health and psychosocial well-being of individuals during social distancing and quarantine

• Understand the environmental linkages to COVID-19.

• Understand how diseases can transfer from animals to humans and why.

Understandings: Learners will understand…

Learners will build a knowledge base on:

• Understand the cause and symptoms of the disease.

• Understand why and how it is different from other communicable diseases.

• Understand how effective public health systems look to handle disease spread

• Understand the meaning of disaster management.

• Understand the potential impacts of the pandemic on the mental health and well-being of individuals, and how notions of empathy and caring for each other are critical during a pandemic.

• Understanding the zoonotic origins of COVID-19

  
  

  
  Essential Questions:

  • Why is it called a pandemic?

  • How can we prevent the spread? And what are some steps that we need to take to stop these pandemics to reoccur in the future?

  • What does good governance (policy and health system management) look like to curb disease spread?

  • What is your role as a concerned citizen and how can you help?

  • What are some strategies to take care of your own mental health and well-being as well as that of your family members and neighbors?

  • Where did COVID-19 come from?

    
    

Skills: Learners will be able to:

• Utilize strategies to manage stress especially during times of crisis and become more aware of the need for empathy and self-care

• Become knowledgeable about pandemics and their health impacts

• Recognize what good governance looks like at government and health system levels during disease outbreak/crisis

• Learn an individual's role in this pandemic and will get ideas on being a good citizen.

• Be observant about the loss of biodiversity and environmental losses.

Established Goals:

What relevant goals (content standards, course or program objectives, learning outcomes) will this design address?

• To build competency of foundational science knowledge on imminent environmental issues and phenomena experienced around the world

• To identify the interplay between daily decisions and consumerism that have implications for the environment

• Based on the linkages between daily actions and environmental consequences, mobilize communities and learners’ immediate locales for action, identifying stakeholders and course of action to systemically mitigate the environmental issues

Understandings:

Learners will understand…

What are the big ideas? What specific understandings about them are desired?

· The science behind the environmental phenomena and the implications for daily lives

· Potential solutions for mitigating the environmental issue

· Possibility of correcting the course for further damage with onboarding of right stakeholders, alternatives, awareness, policy change via community participation

Essential Questions:

What provocative questions will foster inquiry, understanding, and transfer of learning?

· Why are we experiencing the environmental issue (topic), what is the cause?

· What do the latest research findings suggest about the topic (the magnitude of the issue) as well as the potential solutions?

· What is the most effective way(s) to tackle this issue?

· How and who do we engage to overcome barriers and lead to change (at policy, business, consumer, individual levels?)

Skills: Learners will know and be able to…

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit? What should they eventually be able to do as a result of such knowledge and skills?

· Identify the scientific facts behind the globally experienced environmental issue

· Articulate the latest research findings on the issue that illustrate the magnitude of the problem

· Ideate potential solutions and steps for problem-solving on the issue

· Put in place an action plan for community mobilization for engaging stakeholders at policy, business, consumer and individual levels

As you go through the contents, keep these questions in mind:

• How can we prevent the spread? And what are some steps that we need to take to stop these pandemics to reoccur in the future?

• Where did COVID-19 come from?
  

Watch this video for a quick overview of the contents and essential questions for Session 4 on the role of government and social justice implications pertaining to COVID-19.

What does holistically fighting COVID-19 entail? The Director of Center for Sustainable Development, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, gives us a broad view and understanding of how we can overcome and be better prepared for infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Please note the date of resources, which affect the COVID-19 related statistics cited. For the most recent figures on COVID-19, please visit: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

The Director of Center for Sustainable Development, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, gives us a broad view and understanding of how we can overcome and be better prepared for infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Please note the date of resources, which affect the COVID-19 related statistics cited. For the most recent figures on COVID-19, please visit: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

The Mongabay article, " Using lessons from disaster management, Odisha takes on COVID-19", gives an example of how disaster management systems were effectively utilized for COVID-19 support and relief for marginalized populations. After reading the article in the "Resources" for this session, take the quiz on which disaster management approaches were applied.

Social injustices have impacted and been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please take some time to read and look through the resources (including External Resources) included in this essential topic.

It includes data on the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color, the context of how inequities within the US healthcare system laid the groundwork for these disproportionate outcomes, and the dangers of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia that has emerged amidst fears of the pandemic.

We first need to be aware and well-informed, before we can fight injustices!