Ninth grade elective Diagnosing the Modern World (DMW) mines the nexus of science and history to help students explore and understand the complex problems facing the world today. 

This fall, DMW is studying pandemics, looking at the epidemiology and pathology from a historical and scientific perspective. DMW students will traverse the history of epidemics starting with the Black Plague through the 1918 flu pandemic, Ebola, SARS, and COVID-19. They will learn how viruses work, how they replicate and mutate, how our mitigation strategies have evolved, and how our response to each pandemic informs our experience with the next. “We‘re debunking the idea that COVID is unprecedented,” says DMW co-teacher and History Department Chair John Beloff. “While the speed of the vaccine from inception to production is unprecedented, the disease is really common in our history.” 

DMW is co-taught by John and Upper School Science Teacher Adel Collins, and students kicked off the term by laying the scientific foundation for their study of pandemics. They had a refresher on the basics of cell structure, they learned a shared vocabulary for their study of virology, and explored how different pathogens spread and the behaviors that impact the rate of infection. In October, students will be reading Flu by Gina Kolata, the story of the 1918 flu epidemic, and the decades-long search for the virus that caused it. At the end of the term, students will cap off the topic with a research project focused on a scientist, a disease, and a cure or vaccine. For example, a student might research Jonas Salk and study the poliovirus, how it spreads, and its effect on the human body. Then they would explore Salk’s vaccine to learn about its discovery and how it worked. 

In the winter term, DMW students will shift their focus to natural and man-made disasters looking at the science behind hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes and the impact of man-made disasters such as the Exxon Valdez and Three Mile Island. Then in the spring term, students will explore climate change and its social justice implications as they look at why some communities are adversely affected more than others and the environmental impact of climate migration. Each term, DMW will be connecting with real-life practitioners who will share their insight on the challenges and rewards facing professionals working in their field of study.

Over the course of the year, DMW students will be honing their critical thinking and research skills as they learn how to debate and craft arguments based on fact. They will also be incorporating the scientific method to make hypotheses, observations, and conclusions. “There isn’t anybody in the world that is not impacted by these issues, which is why we chose them,” says John. “While the topics that we deal with each year may change In DMW, we are using the same essential skills and have the same overriding essential question: How have history and science led us to where we are today?”