#4770. Ebola Walk

Health, level: 3-5
Posted 11/19/2014 by Lynden Dundas (Lynden Dundas).
Georgetown International Academy, Georgetown, Guyana
Materials Required: blindfolds, paper towels
Activity Time: 30 minutes
Concepts Taught: how diseases spread

The Ebola Walk
This activity was created to help students' awareness of the Ebola virus and other viruses/diseases that are contagious.
NAME: Ebola Walk
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: At least five, but the more the better.
EQUIPMENT: Blindfolds, paper towels
PLAY AREA: A marked off area of about 8-10-foot square in a room, gymnasium, or playfield
TIME: No specified time limit, but try to give as many persons as possible, a chance to be a health official
Description: Participants are asked to move around in the space with bumpers out. The kind of locomotor movement can be dictated by the teacher/instructor, and can be fast or slow-- walk, hop, slide. . . They can start off with eyes open, and then progress to eyes closed/blindfolded.
If a participant bumps another, they both stop/freeze. This indicates that they have contracted the virus. They open their eyes/remove blindfolds (if eyes were closed/blindfolded) and wait for the health official to touch them with the paper towel to cure them. When this happens, they continue the walk.
The health official -- doctor or nurse is someone the teacher identifies by name, indicating that such a person is the health official. This will be someone who has not bumped another.
NOTE: In the activity, there will be persons who will deliberately bump other persons when the participants walk with eyes open, or if a participant is peeking. Just caution them, but let everyone know that there are people in society who will behave like that, knowingly passing on a disease.