If discussions about Covid-19 are invading your homeschool and dinner table, why not earn some credit?  Using expert resources and top universities of the world, this course allows your teen to earn between 0.5 and 1.0 high school credits in Introduction to Epidemiology.

By using the online Coursera platform, your teen can study content from the world’s leading universities and you can award high school credit (science) in Epidemiology.  While this doesn’t have a college credit option, it allows for a deep dive into the intersection of public health and the biology of a virus that serve as excellent preparation for future college-level biology or public health coursework.

I’ve outlined two course sequence options allowing you to build your course to award 0.5 (1 semester) or 1.0 (1 year) of high school credit.   Simply use courses 1-3 for 0.5 high school credits, and use all 6 courses for 1.0 high school credit.

You’ll want to create a free account here, and then choose the “enroll without a certificate” option.  This allows you to enroll and complete the course for free.  Coursera does sell certificates of completion but you don’t have to buy them to access the course.  Whether or not you decide to buy a certificate is totally up to you.

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0.50 High School Credit Option

3 courses

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Course 1:  Covid-19 What You Need To Know

Length:  1 week

Description: COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of infections and thousands of deaths, with many more anticipated. This course is a go-to resource that will be regularly updated with all of the current information put forth by the CDC, WHO, and other leading agencies and covers the basics, personal protective equipment, diagnostics, and other material.

*and*

Course 2:  Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health

Taught by:  University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Length:  4 weeks

Description:  Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of diseases, health conditions, or events among populations and the application of that study to control health problems. By applying the concepts learned in this course to current public health problems and issues, students will understand the practice of epidemiology as it relates to real life and makes for a better appreciation of public health programs and policies.

*and*

Course 3:  Fighting COVID-19 with Epidemiology

Taught by:  Johns Hopkins

Length:  2 weeks

Description:  The COVID-19 epidemic has made many people want to understand the science behind pressing questions like: “How many people have been infected?” “How do we measure who is infected?” “How infectious is the virus?” “What can we do?” Epidemiology has the tools to tell us how to collect and analyze the right data to answer these questions.

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1.00 High School Credit Option

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Start with Courses 1, 2, and 3 from above

*and*

Course 4:  Epidemics – the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases

Taught by:  Penn State

Length:  4 weeks

Description:  Not so long ago, it was almost guaranteed that you would die of an infectious disease. In fact, had you been born just 150 years ago, your chances of dying of an infectious disease before you’ve reached the tender age of 5 would have been extremely high.  Since then, science has come a long way in understanding infectious diseases – what they are, how they spread, and how they can be prevented. But diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, or the flu are still major killers worldwide, and novel emerging diseases are a constant threat to public health. In addition, bugs are evolving. Antibiotics, our most potent weapon against bacterial infections, are losing their power because the bacteria are becoming resistant. In this course, we’ll explore the major themes of infectious disease dynamics.

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Course 5: Science Matters Let’s Talk About Covid-19

Taught by: Imperial College of London

Length:  4 weeks

Description:  On this course, you will hear directly from our world-class experts about the theory behind the analyses of COVID-19 and its spread, while learning how to interpret new information using core principles of public health, epidemiology, medicine, health economics, and social science.

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Course 6:  Outbreaks and Epidemics

Taught by:  Johns Hopkins

Length:  4 weeks

Description: Professional epidemiologists are often called on to investigate outbreaks and epidemics. This course serves as an introduction to the essentials of investigation, identifying pathogens, figuring out what’s going on, reporting, and responding. You’ll learn how to ask precise epidemiologic questions and apply epidemiologic tools to uncover the answers.

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