Engaging the Student (Entry Task) 

Checking for Understanding (exit ticket)

~30-45 minutes

• Student Handout 1: Basic Life Cycle of Malaria Infection
• Student Handout 2:  Detailed Life Cycle of Plasmodium

View the Teacher Keys for this lesson here:

• Lesson 1-2, Handout 1 KEY: Basic Life Cycle of the Malaria Infection
• Lesson 1-2, Handout 2 KEY: Detailed Life Cycle of Plasmodium 

 Directions: 

1. Distribute the student handout or reproduce as an overhead for referral during the lesson and lead students through a basic discussion about malaria infection and major factors driving infection.
2.  Ask students the following questions upon completion of this basic life cycle on the student handout:

• Knowing what you do now, suggest some simple preventative measures that could be used to reduce the risk of malaria infection.
• Examples: sleeping in an area where there are not many mosquitoes, getting rid of standing water where mosquitoes breed, sleeping under a bed net, using insect repellent, some students may also know that there are preventative drugs that can be taken before going to a malaria zone, etc.
• Why do you think is it difficult for many people in the hardest hit areas of the world to access these simple methods of prevention?
• Examples: limited access to health care in general, limited resources to purchase and/or maintain bed nets, medication too costly, poor health system infrastructure due to conflict/emergencies, proximity to health center or clinic, etc.

       3.  Distribute copies of Student Handout 2 – Detailed Life Cycle of                 Plasmodium or use one as an overhead or for discussion to work             through a more detailed life cycle for Plamodium. 

These Lessons Provided by UNICEF

The following are optional, but REALLY COOL Video-Clip Resources that will really enhance this lesson (provided by the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle):

• Video 1: Sporozoites (in red) are being injected by a mosquito to the ear of a mouse and viewed by a fluorescent microscope. Each time the mosquito probes, it is trying to damage small blood vessels in order to generate a pool of blood to suck. When the mosquito is infected with malaria, it spits out 10-100 sporozoites with each probe. The sporzoites then crawl around (traverse) through multiple cells in search of a blood vessel they can break into in order to be carried away to the liver.
• Video 2: Same as 1 but different less advanced imaging.
• Video 3: Once in the liver, the sporozoite is whisked around the liver sinusoids (think little lagoons of blood flow) where it again traverses a bunch of cells in search of the right one to infect.
• Video 4: Same process as 3
• Video 5: If the parasite reaches the end of the liver stage, the tens of thousands of RBC-infectious "merozoites" are oozed out in bags called “merosomes”.
• Video 6:  Out in the blood, the merozoites infect RBCs and replicate to form 12-16 new merozoites which are released and then go to immediately infect more RBCs.
• Video 7: Same as 6.

Have students look back at their first handout, the Life Cycle of the Malaria Infection.

1. Looking at the cycle of infection, put an X on the part of the cycle where you think it would be easiest to stop the disease.
2. Give two examples of how you could stop the disease at the location you marked.