This is the new updated edition of the first book in the bestselling Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series. Like the first edition of volume 1, this book helps pinpoint what your students know (or think they know) so you can monitor their learning and adjust your teaching accordingly. Loaded with classroom-friendly features you can use immediately, the book includes 25 “probes”—brief, easily administered formative assessments designed to understand your students’ thinking about 60 core science concepts.

Access this probe as a Google form: English

Download this probe as an editable PDF: English

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about infectious disease. The probe is designed to find out whether students use the germ theory to explain what causes an infectious disease like the common cold.

Justified List

common cold, germ theory, infectious disease

The best answer is “germs.” The common cold is an infectious disease caused by a virus and transmitted between two people—one who is contagious and one who picks up the contagion (virus). The cause is the virus (germs), transmission is how it is spread, and other factors contribute to a weakened immune system that is less effective in fighting off the virus in the human body. The virus is transmitted through respiratory secretions. The virus can be picked up by breathing in the virus when it is spread in an aerosol form generated by the sick person’s coughing or sneezing. It can also be picked up from direct contact with saliva or nasal secretions containing the virus as well as indirectly from surfaces that have been contaminated by a person’s saliva, respiratory aerosols, or nasal secretions. This is why hand washing is so important. Most cold germs are picked up by touching contaminated surfaces and transferring the virus from an object to the mouth. In all of these cases of transmission, what causes the cold is the virus.

A fever is a physiological response to the virus, not a cause. Feeling cold and chilled, being wet, being wet and cold, and not getting enough sleep or exercise are all factors that can contribute to a weakened immune system that is less effective in fighting off the virus as it multiplies inside the body’s cells. These factors that lower resistance are not the actual cause of a cold. For example, one does not catch a cold merely by being wet and cold. A virus must enter the body in order to cause a cold. Food spoils as a result of bacterial growth and results in a bacterial infection that causes gastrointestinal problems, not a common cold.

Although colds occur more often in the winter months, the cold weather itself does not cause the common cold. During cold weather months, people spend more time inside in close proximity to each other, thus spreading the virus more easily. Also the hot, dry air that results from heating during the wintertime dries out the mucus membranes of the throat and nose and makes them less effective barriers against infection by the common cold virus.

Elementary Students

In the elementary grades, students should have a variety of experiences that provide initial understandings of various science-related personal and societal health challenges (NRC 1996). Children at this age use the word germs for all microbes, as they may not yet be ready to distinguish between bacteria and viruses. They develop an understanding of good health factors, such as nutrition, exercise, keeping warm and dry, and sleep, but they have difficulty distinguishing between the factors that promote good health in general and the causes of infectious diseases. At this stage they should be taught how communicable diseases such as colds are transmitted, and the reason for hand washing should be explained, reinforced, and practiced in school and at home. Later in the elementary grades, students begin to learn about some of the body’s defense mechanisms that prevent or overcome infectious diseases such as colds.

Middle School Students

In the middle grades, students build upon their K–4 understandings of health and disease to recognize the role of microorganisms in causing illness. This is a good time to introduce the germ theory of diseases from the historical perspective of Louis Pasteur’s discovery and to discuss how technology (microscopes) has made germs visible.

High School Students

By high school, students have a fairly solid foundation in understanding human body systems such as the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems and recognize viruses as agents of infection. However, they may not have as clear an understanding of the immune system and thus have difficulty with understanding mechanisms and processes associated with infectious diseases.

This probe is appropriate at all grade levels. The last distracter on the list—“imbalance of body fluids”—comes from a predominant historical belief that subsequently led people to treat illness by inducing vomiting, bleeding, or purging in order to adjust body fluids. As this phrase may be unfamiliar to younger students, consider eliminating it from the list when used with younger children. For older students who can distinguish between different types of microbes, you might consider deleting “germs” and adding two responses—“viruses” and “bacteria.”

• The folklore about how an individual “catches” a common cold is very tenacious. The condition is not regarded as a disease, and the word cold reinforces the connection with environmental causes (Driver et al. 1994, p. 56).
• In a study by Brumby, Garrard, and Auman (1985), some students saw health and illness as two different concepts with different causes rather than as a continuum. Another sample of students saw illness as the negative end of a health continuum of “lifestyle diseases” with no mention of infectious diseases (Driver et al. 1994).
• Exposure to TV and publicity on AIDS might influence modern children’s ideas about infectious disease and predispose them more toward the germ theory of disease (Driver et al. 1994).
• Students have been known to hold conflicting ideas concurrently—at the same time, for example, believing that “all diseases are caused by germs” and that you can “catch a cold by getting cold and wet” (Driver et al. 1994).
• Research suggests that children often think of disease and decay as properties of the objects affected. They do not appear to hold a concept of microbes as agents of change (Driver et al. 1994, p. 55).

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 2001. Atlas of science literacy. Vol. 1. (See “Diseases,” pp. 86–87.) Washington, DC: AAAS.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 2007. Atlas of science literacy. Vol. 2. (See “Discovering Germs,” pp. 86–87.) Washington, DC: AAAS.

Pea, C., and D. Sterling. 2002. Cold facts about viruses. Science Scope (Nov./Dec.): 12–17.

Roy, K. 2003. Handwashing: A powerful preventative practice. Science Scope (Oct.): 12–14.

Sullivan, M. 2004. Career of the month: An interview with microbiologist Dale B. Emeagwali. The Science Teacher (Mar.): 76.

• When teaching about infectious diseases, distinguish among cause, transmission, and factors that lower resistance to disease.
• Engage older students in a debate regarding the many myths of the common cold. Encourage students to use their knowledge of cells, the immune system, and personal health to back up their claims with evidence.
• Use the story of Louis Pasteur and his contribution to the development of the germ theory. This historical episode is particularly relevant at the middle school level. In addition to tracing the development of ideas related to infectious diseases, it provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the nature of science.