Objectives :
- Identify the great pathological diseases which once decimated the population and establish a parallel with present-day diseases.
- Study the effects of tuberculosis and hygiene programs set up to control the disease.

Time : 1 hour.

Method :
- Ask the pupils to gather information on grave illnesses of the past and of today.
- Get the class to talk about and define the word "plague".
- Question the pupils on what they know about past diseases from the material they brought.
- Explain the impact of infectious diseases on the population's health, for instance:

• Plague: 250 years ago, a great epidemic in Marseilles (France) killed more than 50,000 people within a few weeks.
• Cholera: during the 19th century, Russia and the whole of Europe were affected (some 600,000 victims between 1826 and 1837 in France alone).
• Leprosy: caused terror for centuries in the West, even before the Crusades, and spread as pilgrimages to the Holy Land increased and trade expanded. Still very much alive today in Africa and Asia.

Even though these diseases have almost disappeared from Europe through effective treatment, they are still a serious public health problem in developing countries.

- Get the pupils to find out about tuberculosis, in the library or on the Internet, either individually or collectively.
- Establish a parallel with today's diseases and the importance of research.

2- DISEASE AWARENESS POSTERS

Objectives :
- Make the children aware of old plagues.
- Understand the role of vaccination in their disappearance.

Material :
- Poster paper in different colours, large sheets of drawing paper.
- Felt tips, paint.
- Magazines to cut out.

Time : Variable

Method :
A few days before the activity:
- Divide the class into small groups.
- Ask each group to choose an infectious disease. This can be one which has disappeared or one which still exists today.
- They should make an informative poster on the disease they have chosen.
- Allow a few days for the pupils to collect information, photos, etc. on their disease.
On the day of the activity:
- Each group should make sure their poster includes:

• Name of the disease.
• Where it is mainly found.
• How it is contracted.
• Symptoms.
• How it is (or was) dealt with.
• Importance of vaccination and regular boosters / how far research has progressed.
• Attractive collages / illustrations.

- Each group talks about their poster to the rest of the class.
- Display the posters in the school so other pupils are made aware that scientific research and vaccination are important in controlling serious disease.

3 - DISCOVERIES AND HEALTH

Objectives :
- Understand sterilization principles.
- Learn about some important scientific discoveries.

Material : Pupil's sheet no. 1.

Time : 45 minutes

Method :
The exercise can be done individually or collectively.
- Hand out the sheet and do the exercise.
- Talk through the meanings of the words with the class and all together decide for which areas (hospital, food, etc.) each method of sterilization is suitable.
- Underline the principle of vaccination: the only known method of eradicating serious diseases. Go over again:

• What is a vaccine?
• It is not a medicine. Vaccines contain a very weak dose of illnesses the body should be protected against. By building up defenses, the body is able to protect itself against more severe attacks.
• Which vaccines do you know? With which scientists are they associated?
  [For instance: rabies = Louis Pasteur (1884), diphtheria = Gaston Ramon (1926); tuberculosis = Albert Calmette (BCG in 1912); plague = Girard and Robic (1930)]
  Rabies is a special case in that the vaccine is not only used as a preventive measure, but also to treat people already infected with the disease. This is not so with most vaccines.
• Which vaccines are compulsory today? How are boosters administered?
  [BCG (Tuberculosis) / Smallpox / Tetanus / Poliomyelitis / Diphtheria, etc.]

- Continuing the discussion on vaccination as experienced by the children, draw the connection between rabies, Pasteur and the relevant vaccine.
Make clear that although the children know about preventive vaccines, there are also curative vaccines, such as that for rabies.
- For information: rabies is transmitted to man by some animals, in particular dogs, foxes, cats, etc. It is passed on by a bite, the saliva of rabid animals being full of the rabies virus. Rabies has not claimed many victims, but it has had a great emotional impact. Having discovered the principle of laboratory vaccine, Louis Pasteur worked towards creating a suitable treatment for humans. In 1884, he perfected a rabies vaccine using vacuum-attenuated micro-organisms from the marrow of infected rabbits. It was first tested in 1885 on Joseph Meister, a young boy bitten by a rabid dog, and he survived!
- Conclude by stressing:

• The need to continue research on diseases for which no cure has yet been found.
• The importance of protecting ourselves from modern diseases, through awareness of the dangers and appropriate precautions, e.g. condoms for Aids.

Correction :
- Meanings:

• Sterilization: total destruction of pathogenic germs on an object or in a medium.
• Pasteurization: Method of temporarily preserving some foods (particularly dairy products), by rapid heating to below boiling point, then rapid cooling.
• Tyndallization: Sterilization method devised by the physicist John Tyndall, involving repeated heating followed by incubation periods, and then final heating.
• Appertization: Method of food preservation by heat sterilization in closed containers (cans).

- Hidden word: Health.
- Diseases against which we can be vaccinated: Measles - Mumps - Tetanus - Rabies - German measles.

4 - DEATH TO GERMS

Objective :
- Realise how effective bactericides are.

Material :
- Petri dishes containing cultures from previous experiments.
- Bactericides such as penicillin*, diluted bleach, 70° or 90° alcohol.
* Any antibiotic could equally well be used.

Time : 1 session of 15 minutes + 10 minutes observation over 2 days.

Method :
This activity is done collectively.
- Ask the children which products can fight germs. Write them on the blackboard.
- Choose three (penicillin, bleach and alcohol). Show the products to the children: how they are packaged, what they smell like, etc.
- Explain if possible how they are used today, and when / by whom they were discovered:

• Penicillin: Fleming identified this microscopic mold in 1928, which was first industrially manufactured in the US (1943). Penicillin is used as an antibiotic in many forms: injections, taken orally, in ointments, suppositories, eye lotions, etc.
• Bleach: Solution of sodium hypochlorite and sodium chloride, with whitening and disinfecting properties, used mainly for laundry or in the home. Stress that bleach should not be drunk and is very harmful.
• Alcohol: Colourless liquid obtained by distillation, used for disinfecting all kinds of medical equipment. It should not be used as a skin disinfectant (causes cell burns if undiluted) or taken internally.

- Start the culture by putting a drop of water from a dirty sponge in the petri dishes.
- Put a bactericide in each of the dishes with the cultures and keep one dish as control.
- Leave the dishes at ambient temperature, but out of direct sunlight.
- The pupils should observe the growth of cultures every day.
- Encourage suggestions on the disappearance of traces.
- Everyone draw a conclusion, highlighting the effectiveness of the products used.
- Emphasize:

• These products are potentially harmful to health and the environment if used in the wrong way.
• Never use them unless an adult is present.
  

5 - A HEALTHY BODY - BATHS THROUGH THE AGES

Objectives :
- Trace man's approach to personal hygiene through the ages.
- Discover the history behind our hygiene aids.

Material : Pupil's sheet no. 2.

Time : 30 minutes

Method :
- Hand out the sheet and do the exercises.
- Discuss the use of water for washing.
- Describe how important and effective soap is.
- Emphasize the power of its special molecules to get rid of most types of substances.
- Optionally, present how soap has evolved over the years.
- For information: the first soap recipes were discovered on Sumerian tablets (3000 BC). During the Middle ages, famous soap producers were in Spain, Italy and France. For a long while, soap was a luxury. At the beginning of the 20th century, poor people were still making their own.

Correction :
- a/b/c/d/ True.
- Soap molecules are bipolar. They are part hydrophobic (attracting grease) and part hydrophilic (attracted by water). This is why soap holds dirt (grease) in water.
- Dirt is fixed by soap molecules, then detached from the skin and carried away with rinse water.

6 - HISTORY LOGBOOK

Objective :
- Consolidate knowledge of hygiene history with a practical exercise.

Material :
- Poster paper in different colours, large sheets of drawing paper.
- Felt tips, paint.
- Magazines to cut out.

Time : Variable

Method :
- Suggest that the children make a "History Logbook".
- The activity is done in small groups.
- The log should have several sections, each corresponding to a particular period in hygiene history.
- Each of these sections will occupy 2 facing pages.
- The teacher assigns one historical period to each group, e.g.:

• Prehistory
• Neolithic period
• Pre-Roman times
• The Romans
• Middle ages
• Renaissance
• The Tudors
• The Restoration
• The Victorians
• Modern day

- Each group of pupils is responsible for the 2 pages on the period assigned to them. The children should include:

• Left-hand page:
  1) Title of historical period.
  2) Dates.
  3) Description of hygiene practices in this period (personal / food hygiene, etc.).
  4) Four hygiene aids from the period, with a small illustration of each.
  

• Right-hand page:
  Large illustration (collage, drawing, painting, etc.) of what hygiene involved during that period.

- The teacher can personalize the activity by asking the groups to portray their period of hygiene history in the form of an account of a child living at the time (e.g. "My name is Lucius, and I lived in Roman times").
- Show the logbook to parents and other pupils to make them aware that hygiene is important for health.

7 - HISTORY OF HYGIENE GAMES

Objectives :
- Consolidate knowledge of hygiene history.
- Be aware of the benefits of discovery for scientific research.

Matériel : Pupil's sheet no. 3.

Time : 15 minutes each game.

• Game 1: Microscopic quiz

Correction :
1.They thought it contaminated the bloodstream through pores in the skin.
2. Two Greek words meaning "small" and "life".
3. 17th century.
4. A place where microbes develop easily.

• Game 2: Which century?

Correction :
a - 3 / b - 1 / c - 5 / d - 4 / e - 2

8 - SORTING WASTE

Introduction :
In the Middle ages, rubbish and excrement were thrown into the street.
Such lack of hygiene had dramatic consequences and the Black Death killed millions of people.
Up until the Renaissance, people refused to pay taxes to have their rubbish removed. It took until the 19th century and Pasteur's research into diseases caused by microbes for people to become aware of the benefits of cleanliness in towns, and dustbins were used for rubbish.

Objective :
- Understand the importance of rubbish disposal and how a waste transfer site operates, by means of a simple experiment.

Material :
- Medium size magnet.
- String.
- Empty drinks or food can made of steel.
- Piece of aluminium.
- Pieces of paper.
- Plastic bottle.

Time : 20 minutes

Method :
- Begin by emphasizing the importance of waste treatment and explain that sorting it allows some to be re-used by recycling. Highlight the conservation aspect for the environment and earth's resources.
- The activity can be done collectively or in groups of 2 to 3 pupils. If done in groups, prepare material for each.
- Explain what a magnet is: it has a force which attracts certain metals such as iron, steel and nickel. The effective area of this force is called a "magnetic field".
- On a table, lay out the can, pieces of aluminium and paper, and plastic bottle.
- Tie the magnet to one end of the string.
- Hold it over the objects.
- Question the pupils on what happens. Write their comments on the blackboard.
- Ask them to explain what they think is happening.
- Conclude by explaining:

• Steel, aluminium, paper and plastic are composed of millions of minute particles, called atoms. Each atom is like a microscopic magnet, and they all face in different directions.
• Steel has a particular characteristic: when placed in a magnetic field, all its atoms turn to face the same direction, unlike the atoms of plastic or paper. So the magnetic fields of the magnet and of the steel atoms combine, and this is why the steel can is attracted to the magnet.