• A compelling story about climate change and its effects The story is a true one. A theoretical ecologist from the University of Michigan has collected data that shows a correlation between changing mosquito habitats (due to climate changes) and a spike in cases of malaria in the African highlands. The data set this scientist and her team have discovered is one of the few that clearly shows that a change in climate is accompanied by a change in the range of some animals, presumably to seek the optimal conditions in which they flourish. As animals move into new areas, they often pose new threats for the humans that are part of their new habitats. The changes in their habitats often bring new problems for the people living within their new ranges.

  That is the case in the mountainous regions of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. The cooler temperatures in these regions used to limit the mosquito population and slow the development of the plasmodia they carry that cause malaria. But the average temperatures in the area have been rising and the mosquitoes and plasmodia are flourishing. There has also been a spike in the number of cases of malaria in this area. And people living there–who have not had a chance to build up immunity to malaria as people who have lived with these insects for years–are suffering greatly.

• Written in the form of a blog (the story unwinds from end to beginning) Created by Lindy, a fictional college student pursuing a real-life scientific investigation, the blog chronicles a trip from Mombasa to Kericho, Kenya, (literally, from Kenya's sea coast to its mountainous regions) where Lindy hopes to see firsthand what is happening to the people there as a result of climate change. She is working under the sponsorship of the ecologist who first showed a connection between climate change and disease in this area. Lindy's college minimester brings her to Africa and what might possibly be a life-changing event, as she struggles to understand malaria and the ways climate change impacts its future.

• A single instructional strategy that links together all digital assets All the digital assets developed for this project are woven throughout Lindy's 21 blog entries. Students are encouraged to explore them as they read the blog. They are placed in a logical instructional sequence, going from simple to more complex as the story develops.

• Identify and describe a range of local issues that have an impact on people in other places. (MD 6.0-B. 1a (Grade 6,7,8)
• Earth's climate is an example of how complex interactions among systems can result in relatively sudden and significant changes. (NSF 3.8)
• Evolution, including the origination and extinction of species, is a natural and ongoing process. (NSF 6.2)
• Humans cause global climate change through fossil fuel combustion, land-use changes, agricultural practices, and industrial processes. (NSF 9.3)
• AAAS-Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, Natural Hazards

Blog entry 1: (day 35) Lindy is at the end of her journey. She has been bitten by a mosquito and describes what she knows about the process. Asset link: A Blood Feast (images of mosquitoes biting humans)

Blog entry 2: (day 33) Lindy talks about the unusually dry weather in Kericho.

Blog entry 3: (day 32) Lindy details her visit to a malaria clinic. Asset link: Deadly Parasites(the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, one parasite that causes malaria)

Blog entry 4: (day 31) Lindy's appointment with a world famous malaria expert is cancelled.

Blog entry 5: (day 30) Lindy wants to talk with a malaria expert who is visiting Kericho for the day about what can be done to stop this disease.

Blog entry 6: (day 28) Lindy talks about the irony of the word "malaria," derived from the Italian terms for bad air.

Blog entry 7: (day 26) Lindy explores a bit of the researcher's work, talking about malaria and the course it has charted throughout the ages. Dr. Pascual has shown that, given even the relatively small documented temperature changes in Kericho and similar areas, the increase in the mosquito population is quite significant. See this article for more information. Asset link: History of a Lethal Disease (background on the past, present, and future of malaria)

Blog entry 8: (day 25) Lindy reports that it was another rainy day in Kericho.

Blog entry 9: (day 23) Lindy meets with the Malaria Division in Kenya's Ministry of Health and talks about other factors that may be impacting the mosquito population and, in turn, the upturn in cases of malaria in the region.

Blog entry 10: (day 22) Lindy recalls a television segment on climate change that first sparked her interest in the connection between climate change and changes in animal and insect populations. Asset link: Changing Climate, Changing Habitat (how climate change affects a variety of animal and insect populations)

Blog entry 11: (day 20) Lindy talks about critics who say that warmer Earth temperatures are not a factor in changes in malaria patterns. Instead, they point to other causes, such as parasites becoming immune to medicine. Asset link: Tracking Temperature Trends (examining and analyzing data to see what climate information it contains)

Blog entry 12: (day 19) Lindy is down in the dumps: she has no money and her Internet connection is not working

Blog entry 13: (day 15) Lindy writes about her visit with a local family whose daughter has malaria.

Blog entry 14: (day 12) Lindy talks about an inventive cooker she has seen used in Kenya. Called a Jiko, it uses less charcoal or wood than other cooking methods. Asset link: The Carbon Cycle (follows carbon as it cycles through our environment)

Blog entry 15: (day 10) Lindy thinks about the reasons researchers are trying to find out the connection between mosquitoes, climate, and disease.

Blog entry 16: (day 8) On her way from Nairobi to Kericho, Lindy spots a headline about the Greenhouse Effect. Asset link: The Greenhouse Effect(follows this cycle as carbon moves through our environment)

Blog entry 17: (day 6) Lindy's train ride from Mombasa to Nairobi is hot and crowded, leaving her aching to get to Kericho. Asset link: Molecules on the Move: Greenhouse Gases (shows how molecules of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in our atmosphere behave when exposed to electromagnetic radiation)

Blog entry 18: (day 5) Lindy is excited to begin her journey to Kericho.

Blog entry 19: (day 3) Lindy runs into a group of Canadian student-journalists at the Kenyan convention on climate and the environment. Asset link: Fossil Fuels and a Fiery Future (explores the way burning of fossil fuels has impacted the carbon cycle and our climate)

Blog entry 20: (day 2) Lindy relates that she keeps hearing the same story over and over again at the climate change conference: diseases are showing up in places they have never been seen before. Asset link: What we do Now ... (looks at a typical town today and one in the 1930s, comparing their carbon footprints)

Blog entry 21: (day 1) Lindy arrives in Kenya, excited to be able to investigate what's going on with climate change and changing patterns in animal and insect ranges. She's hopeful that all of this will lead to greater cooperation around the world to help solve these problems.

• The story gives learners a purpose to acquire knowledge.
  Climate change is a complicated story. The science behind it is sometimes hard to understand. Some students need to find another pathway toward that understanding other than focusing on the beauty of the concepts themselves. The story in the blog gives them that pathway through its narrative. Understanding science concepts becomes part of the learner's job in unraveling the story narrative.

  Niles Eldredge (maepunkeek@amnh.org) has been on the scientific staff of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City since 1969. He explains the reasons this approach works: "Our narratives-our stories-should give kids a sense of the intellectual (and sometimes derring-do!) adventures of actually doing science. If we let storytelling like this into the science curriculum, we instantly humanize science, make it relevant to the random child, and automatically make it seem more inviting, less hard.

  We can do this without watering down scientific rigor, with its canons of evidence that are justly the hallmark of scientific research, innovation, and progress."
  (Inside Science http://www.issues.org/25.4/eldredge.html; retrieved April 13, 2010)

• The story shows scientists at work.
  

  As true scientists know, scientists don't spend their days just thinking lofty thoughts. The work of science involves imagination, creativity, successes, and as many failures as any other career. But students don't often realize this. They deal with completed thoughts and theories and somehow don't understand the struggle through which they were created. The Blood Fever blog lets them experience this career virtually through the eyes of a young adult not unlike themselves. Through the blog entries, students come to see science as a way to look for answers to questions that have an immediate and personal impact.

• The story humanizes the questions of climate change.
  

  Sometimes, students get the impression that helping the environment means following a set of rules (recycling, etc.) or getting others to follow a set of rules. In their rush to do what's best for the environment, they often forget to look at the reasons WHY the rules are there and what following them can do in the long term.

• The Blood Fever blog shows students what's going on now and encourages them to gather knowledge and think about what we all can do in this situation. The blog shows how one person thought her way through a big issue and provides a pattern for others to do the same.

• On their Own A-Z After introducing students to the concepts of a blog and the questions of climate change (included on the "About Me" section on the first page), give students access to computers and allow them to proceed at their own pace through the story and its related digital assets. Schedule this activity to run for several days, devoting a certain portion of your class time to this activity. As students work, circulate around the room and observe, stopping to consult with students that need assistance.

At the end of each session, draw students together to talk about where they are and where they are going, what they have learned and what questions they still have, and any other ideas that this work has sparked.

• Blog First, Assets Later Encourage students to review all the blog entries individually, either in or out of school. Use selected digital assets as a whole class activity (using a computer and projector). Ask students to explain how the asset informs the story: what information does it add to the story line? Track your classes' progress using a giant timeline of the blog posted in your room.


• Teamwork Assemble teams of students to complete sections of the blog and its assets. After they have completed their work, hold a seminar on this question of climate change, asking each group to share what they have gained with the class.