Lesson shows ease of Covid spread

It was a short wait for a group of young teens to find out if they had been ‘‘infected’’.

‘‘I’m feeling a bit dizzy,’’ joked student Dominic Johnson, during a Covid-19 simulation at Nelson’s Broadgreen Intermediate school.

Minutes before, the Room 8 students each received a cup of water. One was ‘‘contaminated’’ with the virus (vinegar). The students mixed the contents of their cup with another classmate (contact 1) and then did the same with two more classmates (contacts 2 and 3).

An injection of blackcurrant juice into the numbered cups, revealed five students were infected, as the fluid in their cups turned pink. By examining which contacts the infected students shared their water with, eliminating contacts in the process, students traced the original infection back to cup 7.

The owner of the cup, Valentina Howie said she felt ‘‘evil’’ to be ‘‘patient zero’’.

‘‘It’s very easy to spread a virus around,’’ she said.

Classmate Liv Chapman said the experiment showed how important it was for people to take precautions. ‘‘If they aren’t taking the proper precautions to protect themselves from it, it’s just going to spread at the snap of a finger.’’

Science educator Sterling Cathman came up with the lesson, which included making a model of the virus and a poster of its replication cycle.

The virus was ‘‘mean,’’ he told the students, projecting a diagram onto a white board, showing how it attacked cells and reproduced. But Covid-19 was ‘‘only nasty because it’s new’’, he said.

The next part of the lesson would be to show how vaccines worked, Cathman said.

Before conducting the experiment, students were asked what they knew about Covid-19, and mentioned

lockdown, tracing apps, quarantine, masks and that the virus spread through the air.

Room 8 teacher Kirsten Mannix said taking part in a hands-on activity made it easier for students to understand how easily viruses were transmitted.

It also served as a reminder for students about the importance of using good hygiene like hand-washing, to stop the spread of the virus, she said.

Cathman said he would now send a free digital download of the lesson to schools across the country.

Above: Valentina Howie, right, with classmate Vanessa Bell, finds out she is ‘‘patient zero’’ in a Covid-19 simulation. Left: Seiline Williams finds out if she’s been ‘‘infected’’.

KATY JONES/STUFF Sterling Cathman, aka ‘‘Mr Science’’, uses vinegar to represent Covid-19, in an experiment designed to show students how quickly viruses spread.

KATY JONES/STUFF