Developing epidemiology and public health science competency at the high school level

Teaching science through a public health lens at the high school level contributes to the forward momentum in public health education. Epidemiology and public health science (EPHS) has been identified as a vehicle for engaging students in active learning experiences across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In alignment with the educational shift from teaching students to learn about science to how to do science, EPHS provides context for student learning, engages students in critical thinking activities, and can result in students indirectly learning requisite science and mathematics. This allows students to make an association between STEM and public health, driving awareness of public health as an undergraduate major and career option. To support this, CDC has developed a set of EPHS core competencies for high school students based, in part, on ASPPH’s recommended critical component elements of an undergraduate major in public health.

In this session, CDC will use the case study method to prompt a discussion about tailoring public health scenarios into educational materials for the high school classroom. After a brief introduction to CDC’s EPHS core competencies for high school students, attendees will discuss how achieving competency in public health at an early age may generate a more science literate society, and may motivate some students to embark in a public health career. CDC staff will then present a specific scenario and attendees will evaluate how basic epidemiologic techniques are derived from STEM content. Attendees will also justify the need for active learning to be grounded in practice and crosscutting concepts with cross-curricular functionality. At the end of the session, attendees will generate ideas in small groups for case-based public health lessons of their own.