In this activity students will learn about diseases like malaria, and do an experiment in class to test infection transmission routes.
Infection transmission routes experiment
This experiment will help students see how malaria spreads through a group of people.
You will need:
- One 3ml plastic pipette each
- One test tube each, contain 10ml of a clear solution
- Test tube racks
- Safety goggles
- Indicator
Everyone in the class will have a test tube (representing a person). Some ‘people’ have malaria, but others are healthy. No one knows who has the disease.
The pipettes represent female mosquitos. The liquid in each test tube represents the bloodstream of the person.
Students need to take up 2ml of fluid from someone’s test tube and release it into another person’s test tube. Then using the pipette, they take up another 2ml from this test tube and release it into another person’s test tube.
This is the same as a mosquito feeding on one person and then going to feed on another person after releasing fluid into the person.
At the end of the experiment, text every test tube by adding a few drops of indicator. The indicator will change colour if the ‘blood’ in the test tube has been infected with malaria.
GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. GSK Stem Education wants to share a passion for science with students and their teachers everywhere. This resource forms one part of a topic on ‘Fighting Back’. Find more resources below:
